The Yin and the Yang
by Quitting Time
Summary: Yin & Yang is a concept in chinese philosophy. Two opposite forces that are interconnected and interdepentant of each other. This is a Jori story loosely based on this concept. Just how connected are Jade and Tori? It is a Jori Story with some Cat/Beck as well.
1. Only A Memory

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated trademarks are property of someone else and not me. **

**It will be rated M for Language and Violence.**

**Notes: The majority of this story will take place in 2020 several years after they have all graduated from Hollywood Arts high. Not sure how close I nailed Beck's character but I did smarten up Cat a bit. I figured she's grown and matured a bit since high school. **

Chapter 1 – Only a memory.

New York City, Friday November 6th, 2020

No One's POV

The theatre itself was one of Broadway's smaller venues, it was the Rill theatre. Its current play was a comic mystery called "The Murder of Mr. Nobody". It had been running for almost 5 months and was still doing quite well with good notices. On stage this particular night was Beck Oliver in the roll of Detective Adderly. Across the stage was one of his dearest friends, Tori Vega who was playing the role of Andrea. Tori owed a lot to her friends for their help and support the last few years and when she got a chance to work with Beck, she jumped at it.

In the third and final act, Tori's character of Andrea was supposed to be drunk. She spent most of the act sitting at a bar on the left side of the stage making occasional rude, nasty & snarky comments.

Tonight it happened to be going as it always had, flowing seamlessly. About 2/3's of the way through the 3rd and final act, Tori glanced into the audience. She looked at the people in the front row near where she was on stage.

Mr. Sikowitz her teacher at Hollywood art's high all those years ago always told them to never ever look at the audience.

"They're not there, never ever look at them" he would constantly remind his students.

This night she happened to glance at a woman in the front row.

She appeared to be a woman, in her mid 20's. She was wearing a casual dark blue women's business suit with skirt and matching shoes. Her hair was straight and blonde running into a nice compact ponytail. She was wearing stylish glasses. In fact she looked like any of the thousands of professional women who worked in New York every day.

But, something in Tori's mind screamed at her that the woman was simply "Wrong". She heard her que and said her two lines and took a second glance at the woman.

"Why is she Wrong?" Tori thought as she waited for her next Que. As Tori looked again the woman seemed to look away as if she didn't want Tori to look at her. She was puzzled; something about that blonde seemed familiar. Tori was breaking a cardinal rule by paying attention to someone in the audience but her gaze was drawn to the woman like a magnet and she didn't know why.

Each time Tori glanced, the woman looked away to the other side of the stage. Eventually the woman even began to shift nervously in her seat about the 4th time she glanced over.

"Why doesn't she want me to look at her" Tori pondered.

As the seconds passed, Tori kept getting more obsessed with the mysterious woman in the front row. She became certain that there was defiantly something familiar with her and it was beginning to drive her crazy.

After a few seconds the woman moved her leg's forward probably just to stretch them.

.

It was then Tori saw it. Even though it was several feet away and covered over by pantyhose she saw it. Above the woman's left ankle was a tattoo. It was the Yin half of a Yin/Yang symbol. An ancient Chinese symbol, Yin/Yang symbolizes essentially seemingly two polar opposite forces that are interconnected and interdependent on each other.

Tori Froze as stunning realization suddenly crashed through her mind. That woman's tattoo was the counterpart of the Yang tattoo she had above her right ankle.

It was then, for a split second, the woman looked at Tori and their eyes locked. Utterly shocked, Tori Vega playing the part of Andrea instantly realized exactly who she was looking at.

"Oh my god" she said softly but audibly, breaking character.

Beck's POV

I had just said a line when I heard Tori break character. She had never so much as goofed up a single line on stage with this play, but suddenly she just broke character and blurted out "Oh my God"

I heard her cough to cover it up as I looked across the stage to see what was wrong.

She was sitting there at the bar as she should be. But Andrea is supposed to be drunk and kind of swaying as drunken people usually do.

Instead Tori was sitting there almost like a statue. I could only see half her face from where I was standing but it had gone almost white.

I delivered a few more lines now suspecting that Tori for some reason had frozen on stage, which happens sometimes to actors.

Fortunately she only has about 3 lines left in the play and in a few seconds my fear was confirmed as she missed one.

It was then I noticed that her attention seemed to be focused on a young professional type blonde woman in the front row.

"Do I know her?" I thought to myself as I waited for my next Que. In any case the blonde woman seemed to be extremely nervous and kept shifting in her seat. Even seeing her from this distance something about that blonde bothered me. "Why?"

Me and the other actors worked around Tori's last two lines both of which she missed.

I was now starting to get very worried.

A few minutes later the play ended and the curtain fell. The cast quickly gathered on stage for the curtain call. I rushed to Tori's side as the curtain was about to rise again.

.

"What's Wrong Tori?" I said quietly.

"She's here" is all that she muttered, half in a daze.

A few seconds later the curtain rose and too my surprise the seat which the blonde woman was sitting in was now empty. I looked to Tori who saw the same thing. She had a look on her face like she had just been punched in the stomach.

I looked to my wife Cat, who happened to be in the 3rd row. She looked as puzzled as I was and simply shrugged.

As soon as the curtain fell again, Tori looked to me. I could see tears starting to form in her eyes. She blurted out "I'm sorry" and then ran off to her dressing room.

Cat quickly joined me backstage, I told the other actors that Cat and I would speak to her and find out what was wrong.

Cat and I quickly ran backstage and entered Tori's dressing room. She was just sitting there in front of the mirror crying.

.

"What happened Tori, you looked like you saw a ghost or something?" I said as I rushed to her side.

Cat did likewise "What's the matter sweetie?"

"Did you see that blonde woman in the front row?" said Tori just starring into the mirror.

"Yes, but I didn't recognize her, though something about her seemed familiar" Beck mused.

"Did you see her Cat?" Tori asked.

"Yeah I did, as soon as the curtain dropped she bolted out of the theatre like the place was on fire. It was very strange."

"Why" I said raising an eyebrow.

"Neither of you recognized her didn't you?" Said Tori, tears were now streaming down her face slowly taking her make up with it.

Cat and I both knew something was horribly wrong. In the back of my mind suspicions began to form as to why.

"You should have both recognized her."

"Who was she?" I finally asked

Tori wiped the tears from her face and swallowed the lump in her throat..

"It was Jade." She said softly as even more tears began to flow from her eyes.

I looked over to Cat. She was speechless and kneeling by Tori with a shocked expression on her face, one probably very similar to mine.

You'd be shocked too, especially if the person you saw disappeared more than seven years ago.

End of Chapter 1.

**I do hope you found it enjoyable. I wanted to do something different with a bit of mystery. I had an idea one day, so I figured what heck. I'll start writing and see if I can write a decent and interesting story. **

**I listen to music a lot, so I like to use song titles as Chapter titles. This chapter's title "Only A memory" is a song by The Smithereens. It echoes Tori's state of mind. **

**I do have some good news. I am sure is littered with multi-chapter stories that never got finished. The story is finished, but to build up suspense and mystery I will be releasing the chapters one at a time. One chapter every couple of days. **


	2. The One That Got Away

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**This part takes place at Hollywood Art's high. Where and when this all started. **

Chapter 2 – The One that Got away

Los Angeles, Tuesday February 26th, 2013

Beck's Pov

It started like a normal day at Hollywood arts high, we were only a few months away from graduation and it was a beautiful day. We all arrived at school and things went pretty much as always. I greeted Cat and Tori in the hallway and said Hi to Robbie and rex on my way to class. You would think that Rex would get tired of obsessing over those Northridge girls's, but not today.

We quickly noticed that Jade was not in school today. I figured that she probably skipped or something. She did that from time to time. So we all just dismissed it. Though I did notice that Tori seemed oddly nervous and distracted but she didn't say anything about why. I had seen her text a few times to someone and she kept looking at her phone as if she was waiting for a reply or something.

We were in Sikowitz's class later in the day doing a alphabet improv when Lane the guidance councilor came in. There was a somber look on his face. I knew instantly what ever he had to say was not going to be good.

"Students, I have announcement. I know many of you here were good friends with her so I decided to give you this news personally."

Before he could speak again I could just feel this sinking feeling growing in the pit of my stomach. I was dreading to hear the next sentence.

"Student Jade West has withdrawn from Hollywood arts high. I was told; her family had to move very suddenly. Her father had her things from her locker collected earlier. I did try to find out where she went but no forwarding address was given."

I could hardly believe it, my mouth opened to say something but nothing came out of it. That sinking feeling in my stomach now felt like a pile of rocks. "Jade's Gone?" was the only thing I eventually said.

Her and I had broken up more than a year ago but it still hurt to just have her gone.

A collective gasp went through the class. I could hear cat behind me start to cry.

I then turned to look at Tori. I half expected her to have a look of relief on her face. Tori always wanted to be Jade's friend but they were semi friends at best. Jade was frequently mean to Tori.

But Tori didn't have a look of relief on her face at all. She just sat there, a look of absolute shock on her face. Her mouth just hung open.

"No, No, No" she said out loud to no one in particular her voice started to sound increasingly strained.

She then ran out of the class room without saying another word. Robbie, Rex, Cat, Andre and I quickly followed her and found her by Jade's locker. It was open and empty, the scissors that adorned the front also gone.

She was standing there making a phone call, it looked like she was about to cry.

Andre and I looked at each other, we were all very upset, but Tori's reaction was more intense than we could figure. Jade hardly even liked Tori, why was she so upset? I thought.

"It can't be!" Tori said as she hung up her phone her voice sounding of desperation.

She ran to me and pleaded, "Beck please call Jades phone on yours?"

I quickly dialed her number and got a response, in the form of a recording of a female's voice.

_The number you have dialed is no longer in service, please check the number and try again_.

"Tori, Jade's phone is disconnected" I said. I was now confused and very concerned.

Upon hearing that, Tori Vega seemed to just wither right in front of us. She just fell to her knees on the spot. Tears suddenly burst from her eyes as she just yelled out.

"JADE!"

Her voice came out like a cry of enormous pain. Her face itself was filled with grief.

We watched in horror as Tori just seemed to simply fall apart right in front of us. I don't know any of us even knew what to think.

"What's wrong Tori?" I said as I knelt down besides her.

I told Andre to run and get Trina quick and he took off like a shot.

Cat got down on her knees and hugged Tori who was now absolutely inconsolable.

She kept crying out the word "Jade" and "Why" over and over.

A minute later Andre came back with Trina in tow, she looked very annoyed. That was until she saw her sister sobbing on her knees in the hallway.

"What happened to Tori? What did you do to her?" Trina barked out angrily.

Trina was somewhat self centered, but she did care for her little sister.

Andre said "Nothing, we just all found out that Jade withdrew from school and moved away with no notice. Her phone is even disconnected."

Robbie added "We're all stunned and sad but Tori simply fell apart when she heard. Jade didn't even seem like her much."

Trina stood there and put her hand over her mouth for a moment as a look of anguish came across her face.

After she removed the hand from in front of her mouth she quietly said. "Oh my god"

"What!" I said.

Trina took a deep breath and looked at all of us collected in the hallway Lane, Sikowitz and Sinjin had also joined us.

I could see a tears forming in her eyes. "They were going to tell you. You see Tori and Jade have been a couple for more than a year. They were in a very committed and loving relationship with each other. Tori loved Jade and Jade loved Tori. They were planning on going to college together and spend their lives together. My parents and I knew and Jade's parents knew. Jade literally was Tori's entire world."

Trina looked to Lane "I need to take my sister home."

Lane silently nodded in agreement.

"Come on sis" Trina said as got Tori up to her knees and walked her down the hallway to the exit.

I was already in shock from the news that Jade was gone, but all of this news on top I simply felt like I had been punched in the stomach. Jade and I had been together for two years and somewhere in the back of my mind I still had some hope of getting back with her. But seeing Trina lead an inconsolable Tori out of the school just made my heart break for her.

I quickly realized that any pain I felt would be nothing compared to how she felt right now. Tori Vega was absolutely heartbroken.

I looked to the others; Cat was still kneeling on the floor now sobbing uncontrollably. Andre and Robbie just stood there speechless. I could see tears starting to form on Andre's and Robbies' faces. The same could be said for mine.

We all felt like the whole world had just turned upside down. One friend had disappeared and a second one was utterly devastated.

Lane spoke up at this point. "You guys have had enough, just go home."

I kneeled down besides Cat, her make up and mascara now running down her face with the torrent of tears. "Let's get you home Cat" I said Taking her hand. She pulled in close to me as we all walked out of the school. We didn't say anything as we left the school, it felt a lot like we were walking to a funeral.

I called a cab and took Cat home. When I got home I borrowed my brother's car and drove to Jade's house. I just had to see for myself. It was a modern looking home nestled amongst some trees. No cars were in the driveway. I rang the doorbell and no one answered. On a hunch I twisted the doorknob on the front door, it wasn't locked. .

I silently opened the door and walked inside. The house was empty, save for bits of trash and some old junk that was left behind. It looked like they left in a hurry. It felt eerie to walk through the now empty home. My footsteps echoing on the brown wooden floors as I walked.

It was true, Jade was gone. As the reality set in I just found myself wondering why.

"Why did you leave Tori behind Jade?" I yelled out. There was no one to answer.

I walked up to Jades bedroom. My mind couldn't help but go back to those days where I spent time with her in that room when she was my Jade. Memories once cherished, now seemed bittersweet. But I couldn't think about that now, I had to think of Tori.

I entered Jade's room. It was a decent sized room with red walls and a window that overlooked the pool in the back yard. Looking out the window, I noticed there was a pool toy still floating in the pool. The room was mostly empty, only a trash can, half a Green Day poster and a few bits of paper remained. I could see the outlines of the posters and other things she had on the walls"

Standing there I could almost hear her voice.

"Beck, get the fuck out of my room!"

I would give almost anything to hear her say that, if not for me, but for poor Tori.

One thing I did notice. There was a large hole in the wall as if someone had recently punched it with great force. I could see the tiniest bit of blood on some of the plaster.

"Was that you being angry Jade about having to leave?" I said quietly.

I looked in the closet, a few empty hangers remained. I was about to leave when I took a second look. I saw a small box that had was in the corner. It must have been missed in the move. It was a box about half the size of a shoe box. I pulled it into Jade's room, sat down and opened it.

It appeared to have pictures and other little things. There was movie stub, a seashell, a Valentines day card and other little things. On top there was a picture of Jade and Tori at the beach. They were holding hands and both appeared to be extremely happy. There was a look of contentment on Jade's face that I had never seen when she was with me. I'd be lying if I said that didn't hurt. She must have really loved Tori.

There were other photos in the box but it didn't feel right to look at them so I closed it. Those memories weren't meant for me. I decided I would give Tori this when the time was right. But for now I just sat Jade's empty room and cried. Nothing would ever be the same again.

Tori wasn't in school the next day but. We did ask Trina if we could see her. She said Tori was very distraught and couldn't have visitors at the moment. She said Tori would just wait by the phone waiting for Jade to Call. She never did.

She did tell us one thing. Trina begged her father, a police officer to try and find out what happened to the West family. The move was very sudden and mysterious. His daughter Tori was devastated so he said he would check it out.

She said he came back from work the next day with a somber look on his face. He had only found out one thing and to get that he had to burn up about a dozen favors.

Mr. West had been involved in a company with some very shady business deals. To save himself and his family he decided to turn states evidence against the owner of the company. There was a risk of testifying so the West Family had entered the Federal witness protection program.

"They're gone" he said, "The government would provide them with new names, new identities and move them to a new city. I'm sorry but their simply gone."

End of Chapter 2

**I realized I hate stories that take forever to update and there were some nice reviews so I thought I would give you this chapter a day early.**

**The song tile for this chapter "The One that Got away" is obviously a reference to the Katy Perry Song of the same name. There are certain elements in the song that tie into how Tori Feels about losing Jade.**


	3. Boulevard of Broken Dreams

**Disclaimer: Victorious, Its characters and associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

Chapter 3 – Boulevard of Broken Dreams

New York City, Friday November 6th, 2020

**No one's POV**

"Are you sure you're going to be alright Tori? I can stay with you." Cat said her voice filled with concern.

Tori looked around her apartment and sat down on the couch and rubbed her face in her hands.

"You don't need to stay, I won't do anything stupid"

Cat wasn't quite convinced however. She moved to the couch and sat down next to her friend.

Tori couldn't cry anymore tonight, she had cried all the way home from the theatre. She was exhausted both emotionally and physically. "Thanks for driving me home, Cat. I could have taken the subway."

"Me and Beck are there for you, anytime, you know that Tori" Cat said trying to be reassuring.

"Why did Jade leave me again?" Said Tori, her voice hardly above a whisper.

Cat searched her mind in vain for an answer, some kind of explanation. "I'm sorry honey, I don't know."

Tori just sort of stared off into space. "She didn't even look like My Jade anymore?"

Cat had only seen Jade for a few seconds as she got up from her seat and left right after the curtain went down. It bothered Cat enormously that she didn't recognize one of her best friends.

Cat looked over at Tori, she was pretty busted up inside. It worried Cat enormously. Her mind went back to the night of Tori's birthday, the one immediately following Jade's sudden disappearance. Cat utterly hated thinking about that night. "Can't have a repeat of that" Cat thought to herself quietly.

Cat took Tori's hands in hers. "I need to know, you're not going to do anything?"

"No Cat, I won't, you don't have to stay" said Tori.

"Promise"

Tori nodded her head, "I promise, now get home to your husband."

Cat Kissed Tori on the forehead and gave her a hug. "I'll call you tomorrow"

Tori walked Cat out and locked the door.

As soon as the door was locked Tori leaned her back up against it and just sunk to the floor, tear's managing to flow once again.

"Jade!" she cried out.

After a few minutes of sitting there she managed to get herself back up and walk to the kitchen. She opened a cabinet and pulled out a bottle of Vodka. She then pulled out some orange juice from the fridge and a tall glass from the dish drainer. She filled the glass about 1/3 of the way full with vodka and the rest with orange juice. She then sat down in front of the tv, but didn't even bother to turn it on. It took about 5 minutes to polish that off. The buzz hit her quick and hard, which was exactly what she wanted. Anything to deaden the pain.

"Why jade, why" said tori as she got up from the couch. She was now a mixture of deep depression, alcohol and anger.

"What in the fuck did I do wrong?" Tori yelled out as she threw the glass against the wall across the room. The glass hit the wall and exploded.

Seeing Jade and then having her vanish again ripped open all the old wounds in her heart. They were wound's that had never healed in the first place.

Tori didn't know what to think, for so many years she hoped and prayed she would see Jade again, just to have her vanish like she was never there.

Leaving the shattered pieces of glass on the floor she walked to her bedroom and started getting ready for bed.

She sat on the bed and started to mechanically get undressed. After a few moments she paused when she saw her tattoo the Yang symbol on her right ankle. She sat there tracing its outline with her finger and the imaginary outline of the other half of it that was on Jade's ankle.

Another wonderful day that was, when we got it, Tori thought back. They were eating lunch at a little restaurant next door to the tattoo place.

"_It's not going to hurt that much you big crybaby, we can get the tattoos as soon as we finish lunch." said Jade she stabbed her salad with a fork. _

"_Jade, just run though this with me one more time, what does yours mean and what does mine mean."_

_Jade Frowned "If you actually listened to me the first 2 or 3 times I explained it I wouldn't have to again." _

_Tori tilted her head to one side "I just get distracted by your beauty sometimes, once I start looking at certain things on your person, my mind goes elsewhere."_

_Jade smiled "Followed usually by your hands, not that I mind that, but occasionally I do have something to say. I'll buy that this time. The Yin and Yang are two opposing forces. But they are interconnected and interdependent on each other. You can't have night without day and day without night. They can't exist without each other and cannot stand alone. They balance each other. Mine is Yin which is considered the dark energy, It also stands for moon, cold, night, stillness, winters, Rivers and few other things."_

"_Dark energy certainly explains you" said Tori with a smile._

_Jade Smirked "Your funny Vega, so funny you can sleep by yourself tonight." _

_Tori Frowned "I'm sorry, my beautiful, loving, kind and sexy girlfriend."_

_Jade smiled once again as she finished her salad, "That's much better, yours is the Yang which is the light energy it stand for active, enlightenment, bright, sun, strong, creation, expanding, movement, mountains and a few other things."_

_Jade paused for a moment._

"_In each section there is a dot of the other color, which means in each of the forces there is a part of the other." Jade took Tori's hand. "The two forces, like us, need each other, balance each other out, each is only a part of the whole and only together are we truly whole. All that and it looks cool anyway."_

_Tori leaned over and kissed her girlfriend, "it all fits. Well my beautiful dark energy girlfriend, come on let's get those tattoos so we can go back to my place and balance each other out afterward."_

_Jade's only reply was a rather large smile…_

Tori got off the bed and looked out the window. It was late, past 10 o'clock now so the street below was mostly deserted for an occasional car. She didn't live in too bad a neighborhood, so it wasn't too unusual to see someone walking by below at night. Usually going to one of the bars or restaurants up and down the street.

She watched a young couple below walking by, holding hands. It was unseasonably warm so they were not wearing coats, but looked well dressed. She was wearing a nice green dress and he was dressed up in a nice grey suit. They probably had a date at the Italian place just up the street. Judging by their body language they looked very happy and in love. Seeing that just made Tori feel more alone and unwanted.

"Why don't you love me anymore Jade?" Tori said as she turned her attention to a female jogger running by on the street below. She was wearing grey sweats and with a ponytail coming out from under a baseball cap. She was going at a pretty good clip, though as the jogger was passing in front of her building she stopped for some reason. The Jogger leaned over and put her hands on her knees as if to catch her breath. The jogger stood up and paced back and forth for a second. After a second the Jogger kicked a trash can over seemingly in frustration or something, then resumed running. "What do you know about problems? Probably broke a god damm nail or something." Tori thought.

In a fit sudden rage Tori opened the window and yelled at the jogger below. "Leave our garbage cans alone you dumbfuck."

The jogger's only reply was a extended middle finger as she disappeared down the street.

After that Tori got ready for bed and turned out the lights. As she lay there in bed she just felt herself sinking deeper and deeper into depression. He feeling of self worth, which hadn't been very good in years, simply disappeared. "Jade doesn't want me anymore" she said to herself. "I thought you loved me Jade, I thought you needed me Jade" she said quietly to the dark room. As she began to drift into what would be a fitful dreamless sleep, one question kept floating around her head.

"Why don't you love me anymore?"

End of Chapter 3

**The title of this chapter is reference to the Green day Song of the same name. **


	4. Ironic

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, Its characters and associated copyrights are property of someone else but not me. **

Chapter 4 – Ironic

New York City, Friday November 6th, 2020

No One's Pov

The runner ran faster than she normally did. She also was running at night which she had done from time to time but not often. That didn't bug her; she was more than capable of handling herself. She was frustrated and angry with herself and needed to work it out. Jogging was a good way to burn off tension, besides she needed to stay fit for her job anyway.

"Faster, Faster" she thought as she hit the 3rd mile.

Eventually it went from a Jog to a full on sprint,

She tried to keep her head clear and just focused on the next step.

"Stupid, stupid" she couldn't help but think as she hit 3 and half miles.

It occurred to her that she had been running from who she was for the last 7 years.

"I don't even know how to stop or go back anymore" she mumbled to herself.

For some unknown reason she seemed to lose steam and just stopped in front of some apartment building. "Your pushing yourself too dam hard, no wonder you can't keep running." She thought.

For a moment she leaned over and put her hands on her knees to catch her breath.

She stood up and paced back and forth for a few seconds as the thoughts she had been vainly trying to push out of her head flooded back.

"No, you couldn't just sit in the back of the theatre like you always do. You just had to take that front row seat that just happened to open up. Stupid, Fucking Stupid. Of course she'd recognize you. First time she sees you in 8 years you just screw everything up and just bolt like a fucking coward. "

"She probably hates me even more now, Fuck!" She said to herself as she kicked over a trash can in utter frustration.

As she took a deep breath and started to jog again, she heard what sounded like a drunken woman from above yelling down. "Leave our garbage can's alone you dumbfuck."

The person who was once known as Jade West simply flipped off the drunk and kept running down the street.

End of Chapter 4

**The title of this chapter is a reference to the song "Ironic" by Alanis Morissette for obvious reasons.**

**I hadn't considered including the Jogger's POV as first but changed my mind. But I decided to write a short little one. **


	5. In the Flesh?

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

Chapter 5 – In the Flesh?

New York City, Saturday November 14th, 2020

Beck's POV

I was sitting in a booth at a little restaurant waiting for my wife Cat to join me for lunch. I was working on some notes for a screenplay I wanted to try and get produced. My mind was concentrating on my work and I was ignoring the sound of Christmas music and the clinking of cups and dishes.

Suddenly a uniformed police officer sat down across from me in the booth. I was startled a bit at first but as I looked up from my notes and noticed three things.

The cop was a woman.

The cop's name tag said "Miller"

The cop was Jade West.

What I was seeing across from me was surreal, she was Jade but she also wasn't. Her hair was blonde, the eyebrow piercing was gone, her skin was semi tanned, her nails were painted red. Not the Jade who I remembered from high school. The raven haired pale Goth I once knew apparently was gone.

"Why did Tori quit the play?" She barked in an old familiar tone.

I must have sat there for at least 15 seconds before I was able to say anything. To say I was stunned would be a large understatement. A torrent of feelings surged thought me, Anger, surprise, Curiosity, and a dozen other feelings all at once. But I was mostly angry.

I closed my eyes and took a deep breath, trying to control my now growing anger.

"Jade, you disappeared seven and a half years ago. In all that time we don't hear from you once. Now you just show up out of the blue and ask me why Tori quit the play. How about saying something like, Hi Beck, or I missed you guys or I'm sorry I abandoned Tori and the rest of my friends."

She seemed taken aback by my tone and attitude. But before she could react Cat appeared around a corner and kissed me on the cheek.

"Hi sweetie, sorry I'm late, who's your frie-"She stopped speaking in mid word when she realized it was Jade sitting in front of me.

The normal bubbly and cheerful demeanor that cat almost always displayed quickly melted away.

Cat slid down beside me "Well Well, if it isn't the Ghost of Christmas Past" she said, every word dripping with sarcasm.

The Tension at the table was so thick you could have cut it with a knife. There was a very awkward moment of silence as we all just starred at each other until I looked at her name tag and said.

"Who's Miller?"

Even after all these years I could tell she didn't know what to say. Her expression was very guarded, however. I don't think she wanted me to know what she was thinking or feeling.

"The name they gave me in witness protection was Karen Miller" she said in an emotionless tone. "I just kind of stuck with it."

"Cat, Karen here wants to know why Tori left the play."

"Try looking in the fucking mirror." Cat hissed.

Jade/Karen looked very surprised at Cats unusually angry reaction. It was several seconds before she said.

"You two married?" I could see just the tiniest bit of pain in her eyes as she said it.

"Just over three years, I would have sent you an invite but I happen to have lost your address" I said rather cynically.

"Look guy's I didn't mean" I cut Jade/Karen off before she could say anything more.

"You didn't mean to just show up and let her see you, then just vanish like Houdini. We all had all gotten her back into acting again. The old Tori was starting to coming back. Now her confidence has been pretty much obliterated. Do you know how long it was since he last sang?" I said trying to control my temper.

"No" Jade/Karen Said.

I'm normally a calm person, but not today. I was growing increasingly angry at the person sitting in front me. "Not a note since the day you left. She said the part of her that made her want to sing was gone. A lot of her was gone Karen. Her birthday was less than a month after you left. On that night she just hopped against hope you would call her, but you didn't. She suffered a nervous breakdown and swallowed pretty much every dam pill in the house that night."

"Sweetie" Cat said putting her hand on my arm. She was trying to calm me down as I had started yelling.

Cat paused for a second as if to compose her thoughts and started to speak more calmly. "We all helped Tori or what was left of her. Now all our work may go for nothing. Jade or Karen or whatever your name is I don't know you. The Jade West I once knew wouldn't have done that to Tori, just show up and disappear like you did last week. Have you even looked at yourself in the mirror, Jade West would have hated a person like you."

I could see Karen/Jade was not doing very well in trying to keep calm without crying.

"Can I see her?" Karen/Jade asked quietly.

I tossed 2 bucks on the table for the coffee I had drank and motioned for cat to go.

As we slid out of the booth I looked at the cop with the face of a person I once knew. A tear was forming in her eye. "I miss Jade, we all do, Tori especially, but you're not Jade. I have no idea who you are anymore. Tonight I am going to go home and open a bottle of wine and drink a toast to the memory of the late great Jade West my dear departed friend. Dead nearly eight years and she needs to stay dead. No you can't see her; she has enough trouble now already"

"What kind of trouble?" she asked narrowing her eyes.

"She is a cop, maybe we should tell her about the letters." Cat added.

I was too angry at this point and said "Cat Let's go" and pulled her away.

As I turned to leave, out of the corner of my eye I could see that Karen/Jade had lowered her head and begun to cry. I just hardened my heart, and kept on going towards the exit.

**The song used as the title for this chapter goes back a bit. It refers to the song "In the Flesh" which is the 1****st**** track from Pink Floyd's The Wall. In a sense Jade/Karen very much has wall built up around her. The song lyrics somewhat apply to her situation. **

**Well Beck certainly let Jade have it this time. He and cat had been helping Tori for years and I figured a lot of resentment had built up in Beck about his former girlfriend. He sees her as the cause of all that Tori has suffered. **

**But we haven't heard Jade's story, Yet…**


	6. Runaway Train

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**A bit of a longer chapter today, as there is much ground to cover. **

Chapter 6 – Runaway Train

New York City, Tuesday November 17th, 2020

Cat's POV

It was hard seeing my old friend again, it was harder seeing the fact that the strange pale Goth girl that I once knew no longer existed. But then again, I'm not quite the same cat as I was so many years ago. I still have my red hair though, I won't change that.

Seeing Jade and then her disappearing two weeks ago shook up Tori pretty good. She had become withdrawn, depressed and seemed to lose her confidence. She quit the play and found work as a waitress. She had been doing so well, she had been a couple of plays got a TV commercial and a couple of episode TV appearances. She remained to this day however, unable to sing.

We had all helped her a lot and once again the old Tori was slowly reemerging. Over the next few days, it kept bothering me what happened to Jade. Why was she now a blonde cop? Another thing that bothered me, in the restaurant she just started crying after Beck pretty much ripped her a new one. She didn't fight back; the old Jade would have fought back. It made no sense to me at all. As angry as I was with her, I needed to find out.

Even though I know Beck would be angry I just had to find out. Somewhere in the deep recesses of my mind I hoped that somehow Tori and Jade could be together again.

Her precinct number was on her uniform so I knew how to find this Karen Miller. I had a day off from my job as a costume supervisor for a large Broadway theatre for a Drs. Appointment.

I decided to Find Jade after my appointment was done.

I was told at her police precinct that she was on beat patrol in one of the local parks nearby so I went there. I eventually found her; she was by herself walking through the park. I watched her for a short while without her seeing me. She walked slowly; her body language said that she was unhappy; the expression of sadness on her face confirmed it.

I came up behind her and said

"Officer I want to fill out a missing person's report, Her Name is Jade West."

She spun around and could tell from the expression on her face that she was not amused.

"Well well if it isn't the artist formerly known as Jade." I chirped in happily.

Now she looked even less amused as she narrowed her eyes.

"Cat, Beck was right, just leave it alone, I should have just left it alone." she said sadly.

"I want to know what happened to my friend Jade West" I said firmly.

Her face seemed to Harden. "Did Beck send you?"

"No, he doesn't even know I'm here."

"Cat, just go away." I could tell her patience was starting wearing thin.

"No"

"I'm getting angry cat, go away" she snapped.

"No

She gritted her teeth, "Cat, I'm on duty, so unless you want to be arrested go away."

I said "good idea" and promptly slapped Jade in the face as hard as I could. I needed to get her attention and perhaps knock some sense into her.

Her eyes opened wide and for a few seconds she flashed red with anger, "CAT, WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she bellowed.

"You know for a second there I saw Jade again amongst that burst of anger. I'm getting arrested so you have no choice but to talk with me." I said rather cheerfully.

She huffed in anger "Ok, There is a bar called O'rourkes on the other side of the park, I get off duty at 3 I'll be there at 3:30 and Don't slap me ever again. That's assaulting a police officer and I can toss you and your red hair into the slammer if I want.

"I smiled and said see you then" as I started so skip off.

"You're worse than Vega sometimes." she added before I was out of earshot.

O'rourkes was a dimly lit run of the mill small Irish bar with a long bar on the right, tables on the left, a couple of dart boards and a small dance floor in the back. It was nearly empty when I rolled in there at 3:20. I ordered a soda and sat at the bar.

A few minutes later Jade walked in and sat down next to me. She was in civilian clothes, tennis shoes, blue jeans, a NYPD Sweat shirt and Brown winter coat. Certainly it was unjade like attire to say the least.

"You have a lot of nerve Cat, which was one of the things I used to like about you." Jade said as she removed her coat and plopped down on a barstool next to mine.

Jade ordered a beer and said "Ok Cat, What do you know?"

I took a sip of my soda. "Your dad turned states evidence and you all went into the witness protection program. You all got new identities and moved to a new town. Tori's dad was able to find that out. At some point you protested the move by punching a rather large hole in the wall in your bedroom."

"How did you find that out?" she said with a slight look of surprise.

"That day you moved, Beck went over to your house, the front door wasn't even locked. He just had to see for sure. He went up to your room and noticed a large hole punched in the wall."

"I broke two knuckles doing that" Jade said looking at her right hand. "I was not happy."

Jade paused for a moment and took a long drink of her beer. "How did Tori take it?"

"When she heard the news she pretty much went to pieces standing right in front of your locker. I still remember how she just called out your name Jade!"

Jade put her head down in as she began to quietly cry and it was at least a minute before she seemed to be able to talk. I could tell this was very hard for her to hear.

"My poor baby" she said quietly. "I wanted to call her on her birthday so badly; I just wanted to call her period and hear her voice. I couldn't, neither my parents nor the federal agents watching us would let me. Was that her only attempt?"

"Yes. After that me, Beck, Andre, Robbie and Trina all made sort of a pact that night. Tori had suffered a nervous breakdown and tried to kill herself. We all knew that she needed support more than ever. We agreed that at any given time one of us would live nearby her and we would always be there if she needed it. We had lost one friend already; we didn't want to lose another one. For the last couple of years, Beck and I have been watching over her. " I began to cry at this point just thinking about it.

"It took a long while for her to recover and I would say that she still hasn't fully yet or ever will. She was more fragile. She was quicker to anger. Things she used to love doing like singing she either couldn't or wouldn't do anymore. There was this lingering sadness that never has quite gone away. It was like parts of her were missing and still are. She simply hasn't been the same ever since. Tori, Beck and I all went to NYU together, and I roomed with Tori for 4 years during college. I took care of her. We all did. Andre has Tori to his beach house every time she is in LA. Robbie and Rex call her all the time."

"Did she major in theatre?" Jade asked.

"At first but the wind had been taken out of her sails, she changed it to sociology. She graduated but hasn't done anything with it. We managed to get her back into acting. I prodded her to try for a little part and she got it. She's a natural actress and has done well. Until recently"

"That's my fault" said Jade sadly. "You know I've seen every play she has been in at least 5 times. Just that night I went to buy a ticket and the guy at the booth said that for some strange reason a single seat in the front row just happened to have opened up. I just couldn't resist being close to her again. I never thought she would recognize me."

Jade took another drink of her beer "She started looking over and I realized she was starting to figure out who I was. I just got nervous about it. When she recognized me my heart leapt for joy for the first time in years. But all I could see is the pain and hurt in her face. I knew I was responsible for all that; I just panicked and just got out of there as soon as I could. I never meant to hurt her."

I put my hand on her arm for a second, "I believe you Jade."

"Thanks Cat, do you know no one has called me Jade in years?"

I shifted my weight on the bar stool, "I won't be able to sit on one of these soon" as I patted my belly.

"You're expecting?" Jade said with a small smile.

"I just found out this morning, our first. That's part of the reason I came to talk to you. I just wanted to clear the air before my baby comes. There is too much anger, pain and sadness all around. Not healthy for a baby."

"Congratulations Cat, Beck will be a good father" Jade said giving me a hug.

"So what happened to you Jade? How did you end up being a New York City police officer? How come you never called us?"

Jade finished her beer and then ordered a second one. She took a deep breath and started to speak.

"My parents told me the night before that we had to leave and now. It wasn't safe they said. I was so angry that I punched a hole in the wall when they took my phone away. They couldn't have me calling Tori and giving away their plans. The federal agents came that night and took us away. We wound up in some tiny town in northern Minnesota. I spent each day alternating between rage and despair. I refused to even unpack. They decided to homeschool me as they wanted to keep me isolated. They knew the second I could I would bolt or try to contact my Tori. They did mean well but it wasn't easy on me."

Jade seemed to pause for a moment to collect her thoughts.

"As odd as it sounds, I suffered a nervous breakdown at almost the exact same time Tori did. In my case it was the day after her birthday. I knew she would think that I didn't love her anymore. That just killed me. I thought I had lost her forever. The strain was too much for me, without my Tori, I simply cracked. It was strange; I decided to become Karen Miller, my new identity. I made up a whole life for her, likes, dislikes, everything. I just became her, like an actress. It was too painful for me to be Jade West anymore. It wasn't as painful to be a girl named Karen Miller."

"I insisted that I be called Karen and wouldn't answer to Jade anymore. I put my goth stuff away and started to act semi normal. My parents were confused but I wasn't going to blow their cover anymore so they just humored me. I never forgot Tori or stopped loving her, but I figured she hated me for abandoning her. I also assumed you all hated me as well. I wanted to call her but I chickened out every time. I was terrified of her rejecting me, that would have killed me."

"I wanted to get out of that shithole town so after I was done with high school I joined the Army and just ran away. I ran away from my pain, I ran away from my past, I ran away from my parents, I ran away from Jade West. I became Karen Miller and didn't look back. Most of the time it was too painful for me to even think of my past as Jade West."

"Jade West liked to act and write screen plays and poetry. One thing is that after I left California, I found myself unable to write anything at all. I would just sit there for hours and nothing would come to me, nothing at all. I haven't been able to write anything since, I've had writers block for almost 8 years. Like Tori not being able to sing, I couldn't write. That's one of the things that lead to my breakdown a feeling like I had left part of me behind. Like Tori, I felt like parts of me were missing."

Jade Took another drink.

"Karen didn't write or act so I just pushed that deep into my subconscious and forgot who I was almost. I became an MP in the US army. I'm a tough person, so I was able be an MP. I was in the army for 4 years, spent time in Germany, Korea and other places. After I was discharged from the Army I decided to move to New York, not sure why though. Since I had an Army MP background I joined the NYPD, another thing that Jade West wouldn't do.

"I gradually became more and more Karen Miller and less and less Jade West. I sort of retreated into the Karen Miller Persona as defense against the pain. The part of Karen Miller just took over and I've been her ever since. Though one day I saw Tori's name on a poster advertising a play. I saw that play 20 times, each time sitting in the back. I could see my Tori again but I was always too scared to even think of talking with her. I figured she just hated me and probably moved on. The thing is that no matter how much I try to forget the past I can't be happy. I have good days and bad days but there is always something missing. I haven't been truly happy in years"

Jade paused, "Did she date?"

I answered "Here and there, a few gals but it never lasted for very long at all."

Jade just lowered her head and looked down at the bar for a second. "Sounds exactly like my love life. In the end none of them were Tori."

"Now when I look back on those days I spent with Tori it seems like some kind of wonderful dream. Almost like I'm remembering someone else's memories. As strange as it sounds, I am not sure how to even be Jade West anymore." Said Jade with a far off look in her eyes.

I smiled and pulled out a small box and pushed it across the bar to Jade. "When beck was in your room that day he found this box in your closet. It had been pushed into a corner and must have been missed. He wanted to give it to Tori but he was always afraid it would upset her too much. He's held onto it ever since. We knew it was memories of you and Tori but we didn't look through it."

Jade looked at the box like it was something out of a dream. She touched the box and slowly traced the edges with her fingers. Just seeing the box seemed to overcome her with emotions.

After a few moments she opened the box. On top was the picture from the beach. Jade spent several seconds looking at the picture.

"That was such a wonderful day, Just Tori and Me at the beach. I got an off duty lifeguard to take a picture of us."

I could tell this was extremely emotional for her so I just silently sat there while she looked at a few pictures.

She took the box and put it in her jacket pocket. "I thought I lost this, thanks cat"

"I noticed something Jade"

"What was that" she responded with a curious eye.

"I've been watching you these last two times we met and I noticed something. The way you walk, the way you phrase your words sometimes, even occasionally the pitch of your voice. Some of your mannerisms that you display. Even how you have your hair right now except for the fact it's blonde."

Jade looked puzzled "what about those things?"

"Jade I lived with Tori for 4 years, those are all Tori's mannerisms. I think you unconsciously imitated her. Even your being a cop, so is her dad. You missed her so much that on some level you just became her. I'll bet your dvd and cd collections are similar. I think a large chunk of the Karen Miller persona is actually an imitation of Tori Vega."

Jade closed her eyes and Laughed, "I actually became Vega, oh the irony."

Jade paused again for a second. "Cat, one thing that I do know for sure, Karen Miller doesn't love Tori Vega, but Jade West still does. As much as she did the last day she saw her. That never changed. I would give anything to have Tori Back. I need her. It's like the Ying/Yang Tattoo's her and I have. Though very different we are not complete without each other, we need each other. "

I looked over to Jade again after taking another drink. "I can't promise you anything but I will help."

"How will beck take it?"

"He will probably be mad at first but I'll handle him."

"I would like to see her?" Jade said somewhat nervously.

"I'll see what I can do" I said as I got off the barstool. "I need to go"

"You said you were stationed in Germany. Tori and I visited Germany on vacation a few years back in college, we had fun." I said as I started to put on my jacket.

Jade raised her right eyebrow. "Where did you go?"

"She wanted to go to Germany for some reason she could never quite explain. She looked at a map of Germany and picked a destination at random. We went to Stuttgart, we wandered around, drank, shopped had a good time" I replied.

Jade looked a bit puzzled "When were you there?"

I thought back "Ohhh, lets see, yeah, it was July of 2015"

Her eyes darted off to the side as if she was thinking of something. "I wonder how random it actually was." She pondered out loud.

Now I was puzzled "Why?"

Jade shook her head in disbelief. "How random could it be that Tori would just happen to pick the city of Stuttgart. In July of 2015 I was stationed in Stuttgart at a US Military Base as a MP. She picked the town the one town in Germany that I happened to be in at the time. I'm not sure if Random chance had anything to do with it."

I was dumbstruck but thought for a moment. "Kind of like how you happened to move to New York after your army Discharge 3 years ago. We have been here for almost the last 8 years. You happen to pick the one town in the United States that Tori happened to be living in.

She looked perplexed, "Perhaps the universe was saying something?"

I said "Then maybe you should listen."

Jade got up and gave me a big hug. It felt good seeing her again and getting all the questions answered after so many years. I handed her my card "my cell is on the back." She then did the same.

As we walked out the door Jade paused and said "You said something about letters the other day. What was that about?" There was a look of concern in her eyes.

"Some demented fan thinks that she is his wife, keeps sending letters. Since she quit the show they've been kind of threatening. He's angry she quit the play."

Her eyes opened wide "Did she call the police?"

"Not yet"

"If anything cat, get her to do that, there are some pretty demented people out there. I deal with those Jokers all the time. "

I told Jade I would get Tori to tell the cops.

As we parted she hugged me again "Cat, please forgive me. I can't thank you guy's enough for watching over my Tori for me." She seemed to tear up again. "I won't ever be able to repay you"

"Just find Jade West for me and we will call it even" I said as I walked away.

"Just don't slap any more cops'." I heard her voice as I turned the corner.

**The title for this chapter "Runaway Train" refers to the Soul Asylum song of the same name. The song talks about running away from the pain which is exactly what Jade did. **

**Tori at the very least had her friends for support. Jade had no one after she lost Tori, so she essentially lost herself. But something some bond like the Yin/Yang seems to be pulling back together. **


	7. Everybody Talks

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters are property of someone else and not me.**

**Chapter 7 – Everybody Talks**

**New York City, Tuesday November 17****th**** 2020**

"Let me get this straight Cat, you slapped Jade in the face?" Said Beck, with a very perplexed look on his face.

"Yes" said cat as she sat back down on the couch in their living room.

"You actually slapped Jade West, in the face?"

"Yes"

"Our Jade, My ex girlfriend jade?"

Cat frowned at the phrase Ex girlfriend. As much as Cat cared for Jade, Cat prided herself on how much nicer she treated Beck than Jade ever did. Beck was hers now; she didn't like being reminded that he was once Jades.

"Yes, I slapped Jade West in the face; you can ask me again, I'll just say Yes"

"And she didn't destroy you?"

Cat looked up at the ceiling for a second and then at her hands. "No"

"Not even a little bit?"

"No, Beck not even a little bit.

"Did she threaten to destroy you?"

"No, she just said she would charge me with assaulting a police officer and toss my butt in Jail if I did it again."

Beck laughed and sat down next to Cat on the couch. "There was once a time if you had done that to Jade, bad things would have quickly happened to you, sharp, pointy bad things."

"She needed some sense knocked into her." Said cat as she leaned back on the couch putting her legs across the lap of her husband.

"At one time, I would have said the same about you" Beck shot back with a wry smile.

"If you want to end up sleeping on this couch tonight sweetie, keep it up." Cat shot back with a slightly annoyed look.

"I'm Sorry Babe"

"I'm sorry Beck, I just had to find out, what happened to Jade. I wanted to know what happened that pale Goth girl, I'm sure deep down you wanted to as well."

Beck nodded in agreement.

"We think that Tori had it bad, without Tori, Jade simply cracked under the strain. Don't forget, Tori had all of us to help her, Jade didn't have anyone." Cat Said.

Beck paused for a second to think. "Not to mention the fact that Jade would sooner cut off her own hand before asking for anyone's help. She hated asking me for help when we were going out"

"Must you keep reminding me that you dated her? I keep remembering us all eating lunch at Hollywood arts high. Tori starring at Jade, Jade sitting there arm draped around you as if someone was going to try and steal you right from the lunch table and me starring at you. It was all very strange." Said Cat as she leaned back, pulling out the band holding her red hair in a ponytail.

"I was thinking about what you said about Jade's Karen persona being a partial imitation of Tori"

"Go on" Said cat as she stretched her arms.

"Since Tori quit, the understudy, Tammy has taken over the part of Andrea. We've had a bunch of performances already. I noticed something in the differences between their performances."

"What's that"

"I should have seen it, but I was just too oblivious to it at the time. The character of Andrea is a dark angry character. Tori really wanted that part. I don't think she was aware of it, but when Tori was Andrea on stage, she displayed certain mannerisms that I now realized were Jade's."

"Strange as that sounds it makes sense" said Cat.

Beck got up and walked to the window looking at the night lights of New York. "I feel bad that I was so harsh with Jade at the diner the other day. I shouldn't have cut her off like that. I had just gotten so angry and blamed her for all that Tori went through. I didn't bother to think that she would have suffered as well."

"I should have been nicer too."

Beck looked back at his wife and pondered for a moment before speaking. "I've been thinking about the whole story. Most people would just eventually adjust and move on. Neither Jade or Tori seemed to be capable of doing that. Instead each of them lost something, part of themselves when they were separated."

"Yeah" was Cat's reply.

"That Germany thing was weird, not to mention they both end up in New York City." Said beck as he moved away from the window.

"You mean like those symbols they are supposed to be together, some cosmic connection between them. They never found anyone else because maybe there is no one else for them."

"Something like that" beck said quietly. He couldn't help but think of his and Jade's relationship. Was there ever a chance? Had he been wasting his time? He kept those few thoughts to himself as he sat there.

"I told her about the letters Tori's been getting"

Beck quickly snapped out of his train of thought "What did she say?"

"She said that Tori needs to report it to the police"

"She should"

"I need to talk to Tori about Jade and the letters." Said Cat in an uncertain voice.

"How is she doing, Cat?"

"I know Jade didn't mean it, but her leaving after the play shot Tori's confidence and self esteem to bits. Now she's working as a waitress" Cat's face clouded with anger. "She should be a pop star, not a waitress at a pancake restaurant, she deserves better than that."

"So does Jade."

Cat nodded in agreement.

Beck walked up to the small bar they had in the corner. He began to fix himself a drink. "Want anything Babe?"

"No thanks, Sweetie" she said with a small smile.

"How are you going to handle it with Tori? We all know that Jade is a very sensitive subject with her." Said Beck as he finished fixing his martini.

"I'm not sure if she working tonight, I'll give her a call in a little bit. All these years she thought Jade didn't love her, I can't wait to tell her that Jade wants her back."

Beck took a sip of his martini and leaned on the bar. "What was your other big news you mentioned."

Cat was looking forward to telling this to Beck, they have been trying for over a year with little successes.

Beck was still standing by the bar. Cat got off the couch and walked up behind Beck wrapping her arms around him. She then whispered in his ear.

"I'm Pregnant"

A bit later after the impromptu celebration they had with the welcome news Cat picked up the phone and called Tori.

After 3 rings she answered "Hi Cat"

"Hey Tori, I've got some news for you."

"What"

"2 Pieces of news actually"

"Did your brother get banned from another country or something?"

Cat could tell Tori was in semi decent spirits, that was good."

"No and so far he's only banned from entering Costa Rica."

"I don't have much time Cat, I need to leave for work in a minute."

"I'm pregnant"

"Oh my god cat, that is such good news. How did Beck take it?"

"He's very excited, he's talking to his parents now giving them the news."

"Do you want a girl or a boy, Cat?"

"I would like a girl. Beck wants a boy."

Tori Laughed. "What was your other piece of news."

Cat hesitated, Jade was a hard subject to breach without getting Tori upset.

"It's about Jade."

There was a long hesitation of several seconds on the other end"

Her voice began to quiver slightly "Umm…ummm…Cat, we will have to talk about this later. I really need to get to work. Love you and congrats, gotta go bye."

She then hung up the phone.

It was disappointing but Cat expected that reaction. She decided to call Tori tomorrow and see if she could talk to her about it over breakfast on Thursday..

Tori did want Jade back. Everyone, Cat especially, knew that. But Jade's absence from Tori's life left her wounded and only partially there.

"What did she say?" Said Beck as he entered the room.

"About the baby, she was very excited, About Jade, she couldn't get off the phone fast enough when I mentioned her name."

"Does that surprise you?"

"No"

"What are you going to do?"

"I'll give her a call tomorrow and set up breakfast on Thursday. I don't think she works in the morning. I don't have to be to work until 3 so that will work. I'll take her to that New Greek place; it's supposed to be good. She won't be able to resist. "

Beck put his arms around his wife and gave her a kiss. "If anyone can get those two together again, it's my Cat. Just don't slap anyone, OK."

"Kay Kay"

**The title of the chapter refers to the Neon Trees Song "Everybody Talks". This chapter itself doesn't have anything to do with the song, I just needed a title. **


	8. Night Shift

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me. **

Chapter 8 – Night Shift

New York City, Tuesday November 17th, 2020

Jade's POV.

My mind was trying to process all the information that Cat told me as I rode home on the subway. I think my face still stung from her slapping me. I actually think that slap kind of brought me to my senses.

From what Cat told me, it seems that Tori and I essentially had nervous breakdowns at almost the exact same time. How odd. Both of us separated, she fell apart and I just went insane. Its nuts to think that I've been acting like Tori without realizing. Though in a strange way it actually makes sense. We seemed to be connected in some cosmic way. Each not complete without the other. It's funny, if someone had told me that Vega and I were connected in such a manner when we first met, I would have punched them in the face.

I still feel horrible about all of this. I never should have given up on her. At this point I can only hope that someday she can forgive me. Not to mention the others.

I finally got to my apartment, turned on the TV and sat down. It was then I just looked around my apartment. The walls were blue with tasteful artwork, A nice TV entertainment center, a matching couch and love seat. There were a few cute knick knacks on shelves. It was all very nice. I then looked at my video collection, I had Titanic and Dirty Dancing and I had every Katy Perry CD there was. Cat was right, I had missed Tori so much I had started to become her.

It was very unsettling; I started to realize that I had perhaps cracked a bit more than I had thought.

I pulled out the box that cat gave me. I remember being horribly upset that I had left this behind. I slowly pulled out the items. That picture of me and Tori from the beach. There was a picture I took of Tori when she was sleeping one morning, she looked so peaceful. There was a Movie stub from our first real date.

I found a Valentines Day card from Tori, the last one she gave me before I left, her inscription read.

_My dearest Jade, _

_Every day we are together, you make me the happiest girl in the world. _

_Every day we are together, you make me feel like the most beautiful girl in the world._

_Every day we are together, you make me feel like the luckiest girl in the world._

_Every day we are together, I think you are more wonderful than the one before_

_Every day we are together, I think you are more beautiful than the one before_

_Every day we are together, I love you more than the one before._

_Happy Valentines Day_

_Love Forever,_

_Tori XOXOXOXOXOXO_

Every item brought back another memory. Only then did I realize how I truly missed and needed Tori.

Later that night while I was asleep I had a dream.

_I was standing in the hallway of Hollywood arts high. Not as Jade West but as Karen Miller. I walked into the hallway and saw me standing a few feet away, my old self, Jade West, the bitchiest, meanest Goth chick around. My doppelganger was wearing combat boots, black blue jeans, a Ramones t shirt and a leather jacket. A streak of red was in her raven colored hair. Me, I was wearing just a pair of jeans with sneakers and a white t shirt. I looked all soft and nice, she certainly did not._

_Jade just stood there looking me over, her blue eyes were filled with fire and hatred. I could tell that she did not like what she saw. _

_"Give me your wrist now!" she barked. _

"_You can't take me into the janitors closet, I'm you"_

_Her face twisted in anger and she just grabbed my wrist and dragged me into the Janitors closet and shut the door behind us._

"_First of All Karen, I don't like your hair, I don't like your nails, I don't like your apartment, I don't like your clothes, I don't like your Job, I don't like your music. I just don't fucking like you"_

_I didn't how to respond all I said was "I'm sorry"_

_She began to yell her face turning purple and red with anger. . "No you're not, you gave up on me, you gave up on Tori, and you gave up on my dreams. You took my fucking life. I want my life back and I want my Tori back." _

"_What are you going to do about it?" I said to my doppelganger. _

_I then noticed she was holding something shiny in her hand. She held it up in front of her. It was my favorite pair of scissors. _

_Jade smiled "I'll bet you haven't seen this in a while?"_

"_I don't even remember where that went." I answered plainly_

_Her face seemed to light up with sadistic delight as she admired the shiny silver blades. "Good thing for you, I have it. You know what they always say, The Blade is where the heart is and Of course a pair of scissors is a girl's best friend."_

_She suddenly and quickly took the scissors and jammed them straight into my chest. _

_Intense pain shot through my body as she held the blade in my chest and just twisted it. Blood started to pour from the wound. _

"_Don't forget to push it in real hard for maximum damage, very important." said Jade with Glee. _

_The pain intensified as I fell to my knees. The blood started to pool on the floor. _

_It was then door opened and Tori popped her head in, "Ready to go baby."_

_Jade looked at me and then took Tori's hand. "I was just finishing here."_

_Jade kissed Tori and then looked to me again "It's all mine now Karen, bye bye"_

_Then she kicked the scissors deeper into my chest and all went black….._

I woke up startled from the dream. I looked at the clock, It was 3:56 AM Wednesday morning. I went into the bathroom to splash some water on my face and get a drink. Once I finished that, I glanced in the mirror to see a pretty blonde woman looking back at me. I had no idea who she was; all I did know is that she wasn't me.

Half an hour later I was at an all-night pharmacy a few blocks away.

"Can I help you find something?" The sleepy middle aged clerk asked me.

"I'm looking for some hair coloring, Jet Black"

A while later, back at home, I looked in the mirror the hair coloring done. For the first time in years I saw Jade West starring back at me. It felt intoxicating to see her again. Just a baby step but a good one to start with I thought.

After that I went into my storage unit in the basement of my building. In the very back at the very bottom was a medium size box marked "Jade's Room." When I moved to Minnesota I refused to even unpack some stuff. I don't think I ever unpacked this box. I recall I have even more at my moms place.

I hauled the box upstairs to my apartment. The box contained a whole mish mash of things. CD's, Posters, a human skull, books, all things from my old room. All things that I used to love when I was Jade West.

I grabbed a cd at random from the box. It was "Juju" by band Siouxsie and The Banshees.

"Old but cool as fuck" I said out loud.

I dashed to my stereo and turned it on. I had left a mindless pop cd in the player. I just tossed the cd across the room and put in the JuJu album and started my favorite track Night Shift.

Within a second the first notes of the Bass line of the song poured out of my speakers. I just stood there and closed my eyes as the music seemed to wash over me like a dark baptism.

I just started to slowly dance to the song as it played. I grabbed the human skull out of the box which Cat's brother somehow procured for me some years ago. I then put it on a bookshelf next to my cook books. Seemed like a fitting place for it.

I kept dancing and swaying as I used to and like old times I began to sing along.

**Authors note: a bit of an obscure song, though a very very good one in my opinion. If you want to listen along with Jade, just go to Youtube and search for "Night Shift Siouxsie and the banshees"**

_Only at night time-I see you  
in darkness-I feel you  
A bride by my side-I'm inside many brides Sometimes I wonder...  
What goes on in your mind, always silent and kind unlike the others..._

_Fuck the mothers kill the others  
Fuck the others kill the mothers  
I'll put it out of my mind because... I'm out of my mind with you  
in heaven and hell with you..._

My Night Shift Sisters  
await your nightly visitor  
they don't bother me  
no they don't bother me

The cold marble slab submits at my feet with a neat dissection...  
looking so sweet to me-please come to me with your cold flesh-my cold love  
hissing-not kissing  
a happy go lucky chap-always dressed in black he'll come to you, he'll come to you

My Night Shift Sisters  
with your nightly visitor  
a new vocation in life  
my love with a knife

Fuck the mothers kill the others  
Fuck the others kill the mothers  
I'll put it out of my mind because... I'm out of my mind with you  
in heaven and hell with you...

I always loved this song; it was so dark and twisted. Of all the songs I used to play my mom hated this one the most. They say it's about a British serial killer known as the Yorkshire Ripper, a real nut job to say the least. The music was intoxicating, for the first time in years I felt alive. I started to put all the things in the box out around my apartment. A crystal ball went next to the TV. Tarot cards on the coffee table. Before I knew it I had the whole box unpacked.

I found a stack of partially written screen play's I had worked on. I spent part a little while working on one. It was a horror slasher screenplay and I was able to make some corrections to the cop character to make him more realistic. At least up to the point where he gets gutted. I still couldn't quite write yet but that was a start. Slowly but surely Karen Miller began to fall away revealing the Jade West that had been buried there for such a long time.

My apartment now looked like a crazy mixture of contemporary and Goth styles. I started to feel actually at home in my place.

A little later I arranged to have my mom send me all the boxes of stuff from my old room. I wanted everything back. Of course the one thing that I wanted back the most was Tori Vega, I wouldn't be truly complete without her.

I worked late the next night during a shift from Two AM to Noon on Thursday, spending most of the time on desk duty. I hated desk duty. As I walked in the station house to start my shift, Brooks the cop at the main desk whom I hated more than life itself started bugging me as usual. He was a homophobic asshole who made rude comments to me on a semi frequent basis I always just handled his crap politely and mostly just ignored it but that was then.

"What's with the Hair Miller, where you going to get gals with that, at a funeral home" he said with a laugh.

I simply walked up to him and grabbed a pair of scissors that was in a pen cup on his desk. I grabbed his tie and cut it off about half way up.

Jade was back and she ain't taking any more shit.

"Leave me the fuck alone Brooks or I'll cut off more than your tie the next time."

I dropped the lower half of the tie and the scissors on his desk left. He looked rather stunned.

My sergeant had a nice little talk with me a short time later about that. Fortunately he seemed to hate Brooks more than I did.

"I've been putting up with his crap for too long; today I just decided to tell him there are consequences to his actions." I said.

"Karen, he said. I'll have a talk with him about the fact that he is an asshole to anyone who isn't up to his moral standards, but don't cut off any more ties"

"Yes sir" I said. "One more thing, I'm legally changing my name back to what it used to be. From now on please call me Jade West."

Several hours later I was finally done with my shift. I was tired and hungry. Although I was also excited and Nervous at the same time.. Cat had called me last night. She was going to have breakfast this morning with Tori and explain the situation to her. That I missed her and wanted to see her again. If I was lucky I might be able to see her tonight. I figured I would go home and sleep for a few hours and see if Tori would see me tonight.

It was just after 12 noon and I was in the locker room and had just started to get changed when my phone rang. I could see from the caller id that it was Cat. My heart jumped at the prospect of seeing Tori tonight.

"Hey Cat, How did breakfast go?" I said cheerfully, waiting for the good news.

"It didn't" Cat said with a worried tone in her voice.

"What?" A sickening feeling started to form in my stomach.

"I'm worried Jade, Tori stood me up for breakfast this morning and she won't answer her phone."

"Maybe she just overslept; she used to do that from time to time". I said trying to reassure her. I was also trying to reassure myself. Did she ditch Cat because she didn't want to see me again? My heart rapidly started to sink.

The tone of worry in Cats voice became more pronounced. "No I think something is wrong, I just called her work to see if she was OK. She was supposed to have started her shift at the restaurant 2 hours ago and she never showed up."

**A bit of violence in this chapter, as the saying goes "Don't try this at home."**

**The title of this chapter refers to the Siouxsie and the Banshee's song "Night Shift" which is the song Jade listens to in this chapter. Good album, good song. **


	9. When You're Gone

**Disclaimer: The show victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

Chapter 9 – When Your Gone

Thursday, November 19th, 2020

**No One's POV**

Jade started to think quickly, "Cat, When you talked with her last night, did she seem distressed or was there anything unusual?"

"I told her I had news about you and it was good news so that perked up her spirits a bit, but she was also very worried. She got another very threatening letter from that Wacko" Cat Replied.

"Shit, did you report her missing Cat?"

"I did but they said there was no evidence of crime as she wasn't missing 24 hours. The guy kind of blew me off. "

Jade silently cursed the fucking lazy asshole fellow cop of hers that blew Cat off.

Jade began to worry tremendously. "Text me her address and I will be there as soon as I can."

A minute later the address came via text. Jade did a double take when she read it. Tori Vega lived exactly 5 blocks from her. In fact her normal jogging route took her right past that building at least 3 times a week. It was like they were drawn to each other somehow.

"First Germany, then a single seat happens to be available in the front row for a play I'm attending. Now I discover I live 5 blocks from her." Jade came to the conclusion that all this wasn't random chance, it was fate. "Perhaps the universe knew we belonged with each other and kept trying to get us back on course."

In any case Jade had a sinking feeling. "Tori quitting the show may have set this nut job off and if that's true than it's all my fault."

She didn't have a car and wanted to get there quickly so she went down to the police garage.

"Hey Carlos, I need to collect on that favor you owe me." Jade said to the motor pool head. He was a friend of Jade's and owed her a favor.

"What?" He said eyeing her suspiciously.

"A friend may be in big trouble and I need to get there fast, I need to borrow a squad car for a bit"

"That's a pretty fucking huge favor"

"Ok ill owe you one"

"Two" he said with a smile.

Jade was relived "Fine I said"

"Take 15, it's officially under repair he said handing me the keys"

"Whats wrong with it?"

"Heater's busted" he answered

"I'll deal, thanks Carlos"

Jade knew could get in big trouble for this but Cat wouldn't sound the alarm if something wasn't wrong. Tori was much more important to her than her police badge.

She jumped in the squad car and quickly headed towards Tori's Apartment. Jade silently hoped that Tori had just overslept.

A few minutes later she pulled up in front of the apartment building. As she looked at it, a stunning realization came to her. "This was the building where that drunken woman swore at me"

"I knew that voice sounded familiar, I flipped off Tori for crying out loud. Good Grief." Jade thought.

Jade saw Cat and Beck waiting outside the building. They both gave her odd looks as she now looked very much like her old self.

"Thanks for coming Jade. Look I'm sorry about the other day I was out of line." Beck said.

"No worries Beck, I kind of deserved it, Hey congrats on the baby."

"Thank's" Beck said with a smile.

"Do you two want to know something strange?" Jade said as they started to walk inside.

"What" they said in unison.

"I only live 5 blocks from here" Jade said while buzzing the manager.

Both Cat and Beck gave Jade a strange look. "Perhaps the universe is talking." Said Cat.

"I think so"

Jade had to admit to her self that having a badge certainly had its uses. The manager let them in without a single question.

Tori lived in a small but old 5 story apartment building. It looked a little run down but not too bad. The walls were a dull yellow and the carpeting looked like it was once green. Tori lived on the 4th floor.

They got to the 4th floor and started to go towards Tori's door.

"She lives in 4C" said Cat quietly.

Jade could feel her heart beat faster and faster as she approached the door down the hall. Cat and Beck were behind her. Jade was getting ever more nervous. Would Tori just be sleeping she thought. "Bursting into Tori's apartment, gun in hand would be a very very bad way to try to rekindle our relationship." Jade couldn't help but think.

"But if Tori got hurt do to my stupidity, I would never be able to forgive myself" She quietly thought to herself.

Jade's blood ran instantly cold when she got to Tori's door. It was ever so slightly ajar.

"Shit" she said silently.

Jade turned to Beck, he could see the worry her eyes. "Beck, Take Cat downstairs NOW!" She silently commanded him as she pulled out her service weapon. He quickly ushered her away.

No time to call for back up she thought. Just go for it.

Jade slowly pushed the door open. Just inside the door was a broken glass on the floor. A small puddle of milk surrounded the glass.

Probably got in the building and knocked on her door, as soon as she opened it wham, Jade surmised.

She slowly proceeded into the apartment and aimed her weapon. She remembered her Drill instructors lesson from boot camp. Always keep your weapon and eyes pointed in the same direction.

A few feet inside the doorway was a hook on the wall with 3 coats. Next to that was a small table with a bowl on it. There was a set of keys in the bowl and a brown purse next to it. Above the table was a picture of Tori and Trina.

Jade knew she needed to be thorough and check the dwelling completely.

A small corridor went about 12 feet. The left wall ended to open up to a room. The apartment had cream colored walls, with brown carpeting. The furniture was nice and showed a few signs of wear and tear. Jade felt much like an intruder, it bothered her immensely. In front of her was a small living room Couch, coffee table, entertainment center, chair, that area was clear.

There was a corridor to her left. She took a step forward and a dining area was to her left. A nice wooden table and chairs sat in the center of the room. A glass curio cabinet sat in the corner.

There was a small kitchen adjoining the dinning room. Jade slowly walked into the kitchen. A jug of milk sat on the counter but otherwise it was empty. Jade couldn't help but notice a pizza menu on the fridge; it was the very same place she ordered from.

Jade desperately tired to stay professional and keep her feelings in check. She was failing badly. The hardest part for jade was that this was Tori's apartment. It wasn't Jade and Tori's apartment as Jade thought is should be. This was Tori's life without her, and Jade hated it. The deeper she went into the apartment, the more she realized she wanted Tori back. She never wanted to leave.

She stepped out of the kitchen and back into the hallway and moved forward. A closet was on her right. A quick check revealed nothing out of the ordinary. Jade moved further down the hallway.

The next door was on right was probably her office. It had a desk, computer, small radio, and a couch. No one was here.

Jade's heart was now practically pounding out of her chest. She knew that Tori was in trouble and it was her fault. The guilt slowly filled Jade up inside. She felt like she was going to drown in it.

"Just Power through and do your fucking job West" Jade thought silently to herself.

At the end of the hall was a closet, which was clear, on the left a door to the bathroom on the right her bedroom.

She entered the bathroom first. Green tiled walls, a flower print rug sat on the floor. Makeup items, lotions, and all kinds of things were scattered around the counter around the sink in an order that only a crazy person could figure out.

"Still got your shit all over the bathroom, No wonder why you could never find any of your makeup." Jade could help but thinking.

As she exited the bathroom, she saw the last room she needed to check. It was the one she dreaded checking the most. She raised her firearm and slowly crept into Tori Vega's Bedroom.

"Please, be here, please be here" Jade silently pleaded.

The room was a decent sized bedroom for such a small apartment. The doorway sat in the corner of the bedroom. An antique brown wooden dresser sat along the wall right in front of her.

The bed which was a double bed was neatly made and had a bright red bedspread.

To her immediate left was a makeup table with mirror. It appeared to be the same material as the dresser, probably part of a set. Jade guessed 1920's vintage. It was beautiful.

It was the scent that hit her first, Tori scent. It lingered in the air like the echo of the last note of a favorite song. She still used the same perfume after all these years Jade quickly noticed.

"I got her started wearing that perfume." Jade thought.

The feelings of guilt threatened to overpower Jade as she crept through Tori's room.

There was a closet beyond the makeup table. Jade quickly opened it and it was empty other than Tori's clothes hanging up neatly waiting for their owner to return.

Tori was gone.

**JADE'S POV**

I just stood there trying deal with the fact that it was my fault. Part of me just wanted to break down and cry. I walked back through the apartment. Just to double check, I saw lots of pictures of my old friends, Beck, Andre, Robbie, Cat, Trina, even Rex. There was one person was noticeably missing from the walls, Me. I felt like I had been erased from her life; I can't say I blame her. It was probably too painful to see me.

As I walked through the dining room I looked at the curio cabinet again A glint of metal on the top shelf caught my eye so I walked up to it.

It was filled with various objects. One a lower shelf I spotted a button. It was once brass but now dulled and had an eagle on it. I remember Tori telling me that it was a button off the uniform of ancestor who fought and wounded in the civil war. Her family was very proud of that little button. Being a former soldier myself I could greatly appreciate that.

There was an antique broach that I recall once belonged to her grandmother, it was one of Tori's most prized possessions. There were some old cups and saucers from some old sets of china and other little objects of either monetary or personal value.

The top shelf was filled with little ceramic cats. She loved collecting those and had been since she was a child. I had gotten Tori several of them during our time together. Tori must have had a several dozen of them stashed away somewhere. There were only about a dozen or so there on the shelf. I did notice that every single one I had giver her was present there on the shelf.

The metal object that first attracted my attention was resting next to a ceramic Siamese kitten that was playing with a small ball of yarn. The two objects seemed odd in each others presence much Like Tori and I. But this object seemed to belong rather were it was as Tori and I belonged together.

It was a silver pair of scissors. My heart jumped just seeing it. It wasn't just any pair of scissors it was my very favorite pair of scissors.

I thought back, I must have left it at Tori's the last time I stayed there by accident. I thought I had lost it years ago.

I found myself opening the cabinet and picked up the scissors. I felt a rush just holding it in my hand once again. It had been polished to a bright shine, and recently by the looks of it. I turned it over and noticed there was an engraving that was not there before when I last held it.

The engraving was professionally done and consisted of the Word "JADE" with heart on either side of it.

I sat down in a chair next to the cabinet as a massive wave of emotions overcame me.

"Tori had held onto it, took care of it, had it engraved, polished it and put it in a where she kept her most precious things." I thought as my eyes were suddenly flooded with tears.

"She still loves me" I said quietly to myself while I sat there crying.

A memory of the dream I had the other night suddenly popped in my head "The blade is where the heart is."

Just looking at the engraving and knowing the fact that Tori owned both my scissors and my heart made the statement from the dream eerily true.

I thought of the next thing my dream doppelganger said "of course a pair of scissors is a girls best friend."

"Better listen to the universe" I mused, while shoving the scissors in my pocket, knowing somehow I would need them.

**The title of this song refers to the Avril Lavigne song "When You're Gone" it seems to partially fit Jade being in Tori's empty apartment**.


	10. No More, Mr Nice Guy

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me. **

**Chapter 10 – No More Mr. Nice Guy.**

**Thursday November 19th, 2020**

I suddenly had an idea for the scissors. I looked and quickly found some masking tape which I shoved in my jacket pocket with the scissors.

I took a deep breath, closed my eyes and counted to five. I needed to calm down so I could find Tori. .

I dreaded having to break the news to Cat and Beck.

The first thing I needed to do was to call this in and report Tori Vega as being abducted by person's unknown. The rest of the cops would be here shortly.

I knew that I had to work fast. I called cat downstairs on my cell.

"Hello Jade, is she there?" Cat said upon answering.

"Her purse and keys were still there, it looks like someone knocked on her door and caught her by surprise and grabbed her"

"Oh my god" She gasped.

"Those letters cat, did she keep them?"

"Yes in case she needed to go to court or something like a restraining order. Look in her desk by the computer"

I quickly searched the desk and found the letters. I wanted to see if the soon to be dead psycho left an address on the envelopes. He stupidly did.

For better or no, I'm a very possessive girl by nature and I don't take kindly to anyone moving in on what I consider my territory. This fuck head took Tori, My Tori. I've been waiting almost 8 years to have her back in my life and this asshole took her from me. She is the other half of me and I want her back.

I don't think he's quite realized what he's done. He has managed to piss me off more than I have ever been in my entire life. On top of that, I'm armed with a 9MM Glock pistol and a very shiny pair of scissors.

"You're fucking dead!" I said out loud as I exited Tori's apartment shutting the door behind me.

The more I thought about it as I hurried downstairs the more my blood began to Boil.

I hurried downstairs and told Beck and Cat to wait for the rest of the police to arrive. I told them that I was going after the suspect.

"Won't you get in trouble going after him by yourself?" Beck asked me.

"He has my Tori and I am going to fucking kill him" was my only response before jumping in the squad car and tearing off. I even hit the siren as I headed down the street.

I know my superiors would be extremely unhappy with me, just a lowly patrol officer going off on my own little investigation. I didn't even remotely care what they did to me or my badge. My Tori was in trouble. I wasn't there for her seven and a half years ago. I would be dammed if I didn't help her now. Who knows what that guy would do?

The psycho's name was Jimmy and he lived in Queens near an industrial park. I got there as quickly as I could, killing the siren a few blocks from his place. It was a non descript looking apartment building.

My blood was still boiling at this point as I found his door. On TV you see cops kick in doors all the time. Do you know how hard it is to kick in a door? It's actually very hard sometimes, some of these old doors you could pound on for an hour and nothing would happen.

I pulled my service weapon and fired three shots into the lock of his door and then kicked it in. I rushed in gun drawn into a small apartment. The furnishings were nice but old and faded. Though he had a very nice and expensive flat screen TV which I did notice. They guy was a balding white guy about 230 pounds and was wearing just a pair of shorts. He was ugly as hell and sitting on the couch when I stormed in.

Before he could move I ran right up to him and put my pistol right to his forehead.

"Tell me where my Tori is, or you're dead." I yelled at him, me eye's practically burning holes in his skull.

His face took a look of defiance, "She's my wife."

"Wrong answer dick head" and I then kicked him in the shin.

"Ouch, that hurts, She gonna love me." He said rubbing his shin.

I pushed the gun as hard into his fore head as I possibly could then pulled back the hammer on my pistol.

I glared at him with a look of utter hatred "You have someone that is very very precious to me and unless you tell me where she is I will happily splatter your brains all over this ugly fucking couch!"

His eyes kind of bugged out of his head with a look of sheer terror. I think he realized I actually was going to kill him because I could see a small wet stain spreading in his crotch, he was peeing himself.

"My friends have her."

"Who?" I barked.

"Uh..I worked with a couple of guys at my old job; they said they could grab her for me if I gave them some cash. I had some saved up so I gave it too them. They are going to make it so she will marry me."

I had no idea what was going on through this loon's head but literally it took all my will power not to kill him on the spot. I only didn't because Tori wouldn't want me to.

"Where are they?" I said tensely

"Our factory closed, they got a little meth lab there, I get them stuff for the meth so they can make it."

He told me the guy's names and where they used to work.

I dragged the asshole off the couch and as I handcuffed him to a radiator I gave him a little warning. "This is your lucky day fuck face; I don't have time to kill you. So much as even look at my girlfriend again and I will see that you die the most horrible fucking death I can possibly imagine. And believe me I have a very twisted imagination." I wasn't kidding.

I was in full Jade West rage mode as I said it; he just sat there looking like he was going to cry.

I bolted out of there; I figured that the rest of the cops probably wouldn't be too far behind. They would find him.

Lord knows why those idiots grabbed and kept her for him, probably consuming too much of their own product.

I quietly drove up to the factory; I was a decent sized building but appeared to have been closed for a number of years. I wanted to be sure before I called anything in so I parked the squad out of sight and snuck up.

It had snowed lightly earlier and I could see some van tracks going into one of the garage doors. I decided to find a back entrance. The place seemed locked up pretty good. I found a fire escape and climbed up to the 3rd floor.

Perhaps I should approach from above I thought. I lucked out and the door at the top of the fire escape was stuck but not locked. I drew my weapon and took a deep breath. My heart was practically pounding out of its chest when I opened the door, walked in and began my search.

The 3rd and 2nd floors had lots of small machines for the manufacture of lord knows what, they were all idle and dust covered. It looked like no one had been up here for some time. The whole building was dark, damp & spooky. Kind of a cool place actually I thought.

As I crept around the 2nd floor I heard some voices coming from somewhere below through a vent.

"Just why, are we keeping that Girl that Jimmy is so in love with?" said man number one.

"Cause he paid me and Mike 2000 to grab her?" said man number 2.

"What the fuck is that idiot doing to do with her?" said man number 1

"Nothing, cause he aint getting her"

"Huh"

"Jimmy is a stupid ass nut job with a big fucking mouth. He is going to get us in trouble. So I convince him that I can make this girl his wife if he pays me. He forks over 2000 dollars and we grab her. But here is the beauty, I'm going to sell her to some bikers I know. They are looking for a little female entertainment."

"What are they going to do with her?"

"What ever they want until they get sick of her, they will be here in about an hour."

"Then what are they going to do with her when they get sick of her?"

"What do you think, they'll kill her?"

"What about Jimmy then?"

"See that barrel over there, by tomorrow he will be in that barrel at the bottom of the fucking ocean. In the end we get his money, sell the girl and we get rid of him, it's a win win situation."

"So how muc…."

They had walked out of earshot and Jade couldn't hear anymore.

"Too fucking late boys, Jimmy has already got you in trouble with ME." I quietly said to myself. As strange as it was it started to make some bizarre sense, Jimmy was dumber than I thought.

The irony struck me that Jimmy the cause of all this was now safely handcuffed to a radiator thanks to me.

I quickly and quietly moved down to the ground floor. I found myself in what appeared to be a garage the men who were hear earlier were gone. A white panel van was parked in a corner. The car was still slightly warm. I opened the van and it was empty. A ripped woman's shirt was discarded in the corner.

I had a thought and smelled the shirt. A flood of memories came back as I realized that it had Tori's smell on it. Tori was in fact here, in this building.

I quietly called it in. Felony in progress, possible hostage situation, officer needs immediate assistance, and gave the address. In about 5 minutes this building will have about 50 cops around it, but for now there is only one here, me.

I saw a door that was propped open with a brick across the garage.

Beyond the door was a door to the right and one to the left and a stairway going down. I chose the stairway going down.

It was dark and damp at the bottom of the stairway. I could see 3 corridors, there were lights on but still dimly lit. One corridor went, left, one straight and one went to the right. . Off In the distance I heard a noise though I couldn't tell which direction it came from. I quietly walked down the corridor on the right. My heart was pounding even faster than it was before.

I passed several dark rooms that appear to have once been storage. A room down the hall was dimly lit and contained chemicals used in making of meth. They were neatly arranged on shelves. No Tori however.

Off somewhere I heard a muffled voice.

At the end of the hall was a door. I quietly opened the door and crept in. I was first hit by a horrible chemical smell as I entered the brightly lit room. There were a few tables with glass jars and equipment used in making meth. No one was here. There were 2 doors on the opposite side of the room, two on the right and one on the left. I took one too the left.

It was a dimly lit dirty bathroom. As I entered I saw in the corner a shape on the floor.

There she was Tori Vega, the woman who I loved more than life itself after 7 and half long years. My heart skipped a beat when I first saw her.

She was on the floor her hands tied to a radiator, she was just wearing jeans and bra. Her hair was a mess and she appeared to be sleeping. I could see a large bruise on the right side of her face. She looked so helpless. My heart leaped into my throat as I slowly approached her.

**One of my favorite chapters, Jade West is back and she is pretty much on the warpath as some fool took her Tori. Took long enough, but they are finally together again, but they are still very much in danger.**

**This chapter title is a reference to the Alice Cooper Song "No More, Mr. Nice Guy" Pretty much sums up Jade's attitude, nothing will stop her from getting what she wants.**


	11. Helter Skelter

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters, and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me. **

**Chapter 11 – Helter Skelter,**

**Thursday November 19th, 2020**

**Jade's POV**

"Please don't be dead" I silently pleaded.

I walked up and kneeled down besides her, I could see her rhythmically breathing.

My military and police training kept telling me that I needed to focus on my objective, which was getting Tori to safety.

I put my hand on her mouth and shook her awake.

She gradually began to stir as I shook her awake. Eventually her eyes slowly opened. As soon as they did her whole body tensed up. I guessed that she hadn't recognized me yet.

I kept my hand on her mouth as I didn't want her to scream and attract unwanted attention.

After a moment her eyes seemed to focus on me and suddenly opened very very wide.

I smiled to reassure her, "It's me Jade, be very quiet" I whispered..

She just lay there, not even attempting to say anything, her eyes just wide open. I don't think she even knows what to make of me being here. My head was swirling with emotions. I was with Tori for the first time in years, All I wanted to do was take her in my arms and kiss her. But I had to shut those feelings down and do my job. I wasn't doing very well of a job of that though..

I pointed to my police badge. "I'm a cop now Vega and I'm getting your ass out of here."

I slowly removed my hand from her mouth and began to untie her.

"My god Jade, it's you. How did you find me?" she said quietly.

"Cat was worried and called me, I checked out your place and found you missing, that idiot left his name and address on the envelope so I found him and he told me where you were."

I had gotten her untied at this point; as soon as I did she grabbed me and pulled me into a hug. I could smell her, feel her hair, hear her breathe, I couldn't help but savor the most wonderful feeling in the world, being in Tori's arms again. I felt whole for the first time in years.

"I missed you" I quietly whispered in her ear.

Tori squeezed me harder, "I missed you too"

I broke from the hug. "We really need to get out of here baby, can you walk?"

She was half paralyzed with fear, which is perfectly understandable, but nodded yes.

Tears suddenly started pouring from Tori's eyes as she seemed to be suddenly overcome with emotions.

I smiled and put her hands on Tori's shoulders to calm her down. "Don't worry baby, you will be fine."

I slowly helped her up off the floor. .

I whispered "Let me check to see if anyone is in the next room, I'll be right back."

Tori grabbed my arm "Please don't leave me Jade" She pleaded quietly

I smiled and said the words I had been waiting for 7 years to say "Tori Vega, I love you and I promise I will never leave you again, but right you need to trust me."

I still could see tears in her eyes as she smiled and took my hand. "I have my Jade back?"

"Dam right, Vega."

She silently mouthed the words "I love you" as I started to the door. I found it was incredibly hard for me to focus on my job.

I walked to the door and went back into the lab, it was clear and I could hear nothing. "Very Good" I thought.

I re entered the bathroom and motioned for Tori to come out. My head was swimming with emotions, from being with Tori again. I needed to shut them out, I had a job to do and I needed to focus. There were at 2 possibly 3 armed suspects running around this dump.

I took her hand and slowly lead her to the door and had my pistol in my other hand. Her hand felt warm and soft, I could practically feel her pulse. I felt alive, more alive than I had in years.

We were about 8 feet from the door we needed to use when it suddenly opened and a man entered.

He was in his 40's and wore Jeans and sweatshirt. I quickly observed he had a gun in the waistband of his jeans which he quickly grabbed at.

Before he could even get his pistol out, I aimed straight at his face and fired. I let my personal feelings override my training which was to aim for the chest. He took my Tori which meant closed casket funeral for him.

"Die Fucker!" I thought as the first shot went straight thorough his left eye blowing it up rather nicely. The 2nd shot hit the bridge of his nose, which almost seemed to split his face in half. The third shot I put directly in his fore head making a nice round hole.

He opened his mouth and made a rather disgusting gurgling sound as he jerked backward and collapsed to the floor. His face was now a very disgusting bloody mess, in other words it was absolutely beautiful. I'd be lying if said I didn't feel a good measure of grim satisfaction that one of Tori's abductors was now sitting in hell with a fucked up face thanks to me.

The adrenaline was coursing through my veins as I just stood there for a few seconds savoring my kill like some wild animal.

I looked to Tori who had a somewhat stunned look on her face.

Somewhere in the back of my mind I suddenly could hear my Drill Instructor from basic Training screaming, "Get moving fuck head, move, move, move!" I suddenly snapped out of my reverie and I knew we needed to move and fast.

"Tori, we need to go, NOW!" I barked at her.

I took Tori's hand and we ran down the corridor towards the stairs. After a few seconds we made it and ran up the stairs. We had encountered no one else. Only a little more distance to go before we're outside I thought.

We entered the garage and I could see the door a little ways a way. We hadn't gone more than 20 feet when I heard an audible click and the word "Freeze" from immediately behind me.

"Shit" I thought quickly

I turned to see a rather fat man in his 40's with white hair behind me. He was wearing a chemical protective suit. He was aiming a pistol at me.

"Drop it" he barked at me.

I dropped my gun and he walked up and kicked it about 4 feet away. He motioned for me to turn around which I did. He then came up directly behind me and put a gun up right side of my head.

"well well what do we have here" he said.

He quickly ran his hand up my thigh, "I think I could get even more for you then her" I said and did nothing but I was seething inside.

Tori was slightly ahead and facing me, she quickly backed up about 3 feet away from me.

"But maybe I should just waste you two instead" The man said with a smile.

I knew exactly what I needed to do and I needed to be quick before any other suspects showed up. I needed to get Tori out here and where she would be safe.

Hopefully the cops should be arriving soon or already here.

I gave Tori a smile and a wink; I could tell she knew that I was up to something. She truly was my other half.

She sensed that I needed a diversion or something so she looked at the man and said "Please, Mr. we won't say anything, we can pay you"

In the second he was distracted I moved my left hand and pulled out the scissors that I had taped to my left thigh. It was just under my belt. One yank and it was free and concealed in my left hand where he didn't see it.

I just needed to get that gun away from my head for a split second I thought. Just long enough to strike.

I smiled at Tori, then I quickly pushed up and back with my right shoulder, bumping his arm, he fired but I had spoiled his aim. I could hear the round shoot past the back of my head.

Then like a deadly cobra I struck swinging my left hand around and buried the pair of scissors right into his stomach. The man seemed to stagger back wildly bellowing in immense pain.

"TORI RUN!" I screamed at the top of my lungs.

Tori immediately started running for the exit.

I could see her move towards the exit as I dove for my gun. Within a second I had picked it up and gotten into a kneeling stance.

I suddenly heard several shots ring out from the stairs; another man was standing just inside the doorway we had just come out of. He was near the top of the stairs firing wildly at me and Tori.

I quickly aimed and squeezed the trigger putting 4 slugs right into his chest. He seemed to double over and just fall backwards down the stairs.

."Freeze it's the police" I suddenly heard a voice from somewhere behind me.

"About friggin time" I thought.

I turned my attention back to the man whom I stabbed. To my surprise he was now standing about 12 feet away with a pair of scissors sticking out of him. A steady stream of blood now ran down his chest. He was still holding a pistol in his hand as well.

"How could that fucker still be standing?" I thought. It would have kind of comical if not for the fact that his gun was now aimed right at me.

"Should have listened to the dream and pushed the blade in harder" I thought.

Time seemed to move in slow motion

I turned my gun towards the man but he was able to fire first.

Something suddenly smashed into my upper right leg, generating a massive wave of pain throughout my body as it did.

A second later I felt like I suddenly had been punched in the chest by Mike Tyson. It knocked the wind clean out of me.

Another second after that a third slug smashed into my left shoulder, for some reason that was the most painful one of all.

I suddenly heard a whole barrage of semi automatic weapon fire from behind me. Several wounds suddenly appeared in the chest of the man who had just shot me. He just seemed to fall over backwards.

I was absolutly stunned and in the most pain i had ever been in next to losing tori. I dropped my gun and looked down at my chest.

**No Ones POV**

Jade could see a rapidly spreading circle of blood on both her leg and chest. It was odd, but looking at it, a strange thought ran across Jade mind "It flows so much faster in real life than in the movies, I'll have to remember that for my next script."

Jade realized her chest felt heavy and she found it hard to breathe. A sensation of feeling weak and dizzy suddenly overcame her as she simply fell backward onto the floor.

Somewhere in her mind she realized she was going into shock.

Her vision began to blur and fade as she tried calling for help. Unfortunately the only thing that came from her mouth was blood.

"Fuck" She cursed mentally.

She thought she felt someone touch her right shoulder but wasn't sure.

The last thing Jade thought of before everything went black was a fragment of an old cherished memory.

_The surf was particularly wild that day, larger waves than normal made their constant assault on the placid beach. It was sunset and the beach itself was nearly deserted except for Tori, Jade and a few others scattered about. The sky had turned a wondrous shade of orange that matched Tori's bathing suit. _

_Tori was dancing in the surf laughing as the waves splashed her again and again. Jade herself was sitting on their beach towel a dozen yards away, just watching her girlfriend try and entice her into the water. _

"_Come on you big chicken, you know if you get wet, you won't melt" Tori said playfully as yet another wave splashed across what Jade considered the most beautiful body in the world._

"_Are you saying I'm witch Tori?" Jade shot back with a smirk._

_Tori laughed and shouted across the nearly empty beach "No silly, you're my girlfriend!" _

_Jade just smiled and said "I love you Tori." _

_Tori blew Jade a kiss and continued playing in the surf. _

_Jade just sat there on the beach towel, perfectly content to watch the woman she knew she was falling madly in love with, dancing in the wild surf. To jade it was the most beautiful sight in the world._

**Certainly a cliffhanger today, I'll have the next chapter up soon.**

**The title of this chapter refers to the song "Helter Skelter" by the Beatles. The words Helter Skelter means essentially in disordered haste which is their escape from the meth lab. Not to mention the horrific act of violence that will forever be associated with this song.**


	12. Just a feeling

**Disclaimer: The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Chapter 12 – Just a feeling.**

**Thursday November 19th, 2020**

**No ones POV**

"Tori Run!" Those words screamed through Tori's head as she ran for the door not looking back. She knew Jade wouldn't want her to look back.

She was going on pure adrenaline.

Suddenly Tori heard several more shots ring out behind her.

She desperately wanted to look but once again Jades words echoed through her head.

"Tori Run!"

She was about 2/3's of the way from the door when it suddenly flew open. Several men in black with what appeared to be machine guns burst in the door. Each one had the words POLICE written in big letters on their chest.

Being the daughter of a cop Tori knew a few things about police and police procedure. She recognized the men as Police tactical officers; they were for special and very dangerous situations. They would wearing full body armor and carry submachine guns. They were not to be taken lightly.

As she ran towards them she knew to raise her hands, not wanting to be mistaken for an unfriendly and shot. Several of them ran past her deeper into the garage.

Suddenly someone grabbed her by the arm, it was another cop who had come in from another door.

"Get her out of here" someone yelled.

The officer that had her by the arm was joined by a second one who started to hurry her out of the garage. She hadn't taken more than 3 steps when she heard someone yell.

"Freeze Police"

She then heard 3 more shots.

She had gotten just to the open door when she suddenly heard a very loud barrage of semi automatic weapons fire. A second later she was outside. There must have been 10 cop cars and 2 ambulances outside. She could see a number of police scattered about, weapons drawn and aimed at the factory.

The two officers without saying a word quickly started to rush her towards one of the ambulances sitting nearby.

At this point Tori was pumped full of adrenaline and hardly even knew what to think. The whole day had been utterly overwhelming. Her mind seemed to be going a thousand directions at once.

As she got to the ambulance only one thing went across her mind.

"Jade?"

"Where's Jade?" She said to a police officer who was escorting her.

He looked a bit confused and said "I'll see what I can find out about your friend."

Tori was starting to get very worried and scared. She wanted to know where Jade was.

As a paramedic started to check her out suddenly she heard a voice coming from the door of the garage.

"Get an ambulance in here, NOW, we've got an officer down!"

Tori's heart suddenly dropped.

"JADE!" She screamed as she attempted to run back to the warehouse. She needed to be with her Jade.

As two officers suddenly restrained her she suddenly felt her right side, it was wet.

She lifted up her right hand and looked at it, her hand and her right thigh both had blood on them.

All of a sudden she felt very light headed and dizzy and within a few seconds passed out.

Tori woke in a hospital exam room where she was on an exam table. The first thing she saw was Cat standing next to the exam table. Beck was standing behind her. On the other side was a doctor who was looking at her thigh.

"Jade!" Was the first thing out of Tori's mouth.

"Relax sweetie" Said Cat in a reassuring tone. Tori could not help but see the worry etched across their faces.

"Miss Vega?" Said the young doctor who was attending to Tori.

"Yes"

"I'm Doctor Floyd, I need you to relax a bit, one of the bullets grazed your thigh. It's not bad but I need you to stay still so I can finish stitching it up. I gave you a local, so the pain shouldn't be too bad"

Tori's thigh hurt but not too bad.

"What about Jade?, I need to know about Jade." Tori Pleaded with Cat, Beck and the Doctor.

Cat and Beck looked at the doctor who paused from his work.

"I'm sorry but your girlfriend Jade West suffered multiple gunshot wounds, it's quite bad I'm afraid, she is alive but barely. They rushed her into emergency surgery as soon as she got here. That's all I know."

As Tori absorbed the news she suddenly started gasping for breath as it felt like all the air had suddenly been taken from her lungs.

Cat quickly took Tori's hand as the doctor called for a nurse to administer oxygen.

"Relax Miss Vega, she is in very good hands" said the nurse trying to Calm a very upset Tori down.

"Relax Tori" Said Beck as he put his hand on her shoulder.

After the nurse lifted the oxygen mask Tori looked at Beck and Cat

"She came for me, she saved me, I had her back, she promised she would never leave me" The words came out in a torrent.

"Tori listen to me, you haven't lost her, she's going to be fine, Just relax, Jade wouldn't want you freaking out" said Beck.

Tori started to calm down, she knew beck was exactly right, Jade wouldn't want that.

"Miss Vega" Said the Doctor, "I'm finished here, 10 stitches, but considering your ordeal, I would like to admit you overnight for observation."

Tori nodded in agreement.

"Good, the nurse will take you up to a room, I'll check on you later." The doctor said just before he gave some instructions to the Nurse about Tori.

As the nurse took Tori up to her hospital room Cat and Beck told her the story of Jade's last 7 and a half years. It hit her very hard, she had no idea Jade was in so much pain, as much or even more than she was in.

"She was so afraid that you hated her and you would reject her, that she was too scared to even call you." Cat said at one point.

The part that was the very hardest is that Jade lost herself completely. Tori couldn't help but feel responsible in some fashion for her pain.

"She didn't mean to spook you at the theatre, she saw the pain in your eyes and she felt responsible herself. She panicked and left." Said Beck.

"My poor baby." Said Tori Quietly as she entered her room.

"Do you know that she saw each of your plays at least 5 times?" Said Cat as she helped Tori into the hospital Pajamas while Beck waited outside.

"She did?" Said Tori as her face seemed to light up.

"Yeah she did?"

"Cat, I don't remember any particular feeling when I chose Stuttgart for our vacation, I just chose it, its very strange."

Cat helped Tori into bed, she wasn't too badly hurt but Cat could tell she was very tired and emotionally exhausted.

"Tori, I don't know how it works but you two are truly meant for each other, you and her twice have been drawn to each other. She lives only 5 blocks from you. Its like the universe knew you two belonged together and pushed you back or helped you two find each other again"

Beck knocked on the door and Cat said he could come in. An older doctor was with him.

"I found him outside, he's been asked to give you a briefing' Said Beck.

"I'm Doctor Hill, I've been told to give you a small briefing. Your friend"

"Girlfriend" Tori Corrected him

"I'm very sorry, but your Girlfriend was shot 3 times. Once in the right leg, once in the chest and once in the left shoulder. All three bullet's broke apart in the body and a part of the one in the chest went through her right lung and out her back. She's lost a lot of blood."

Tori swallowed the lump in her throat. "Will she make it?"

"I can't guarantee she will, but she has a fighting chance. She did luck out on one thing."

"What?" Said Tori raising an eyebrow.

"One of the doctor's operating on her currently is Dr Bergman. He is considered one of the top 5 trauma surgeons in the country. He just happened to be at the hospital today visiting our head surgeon who's a friend of his. When he heard your girlfriend was coming in with severe wounds he volunteered and was scrubbed and ready to go in 5 minutes."

"Thank you Doctor Hill" said Tori quietly.

"All I can say is make yourself comfortable, she will be in surgery for several hours at least. We will let you know if there is any change. They will take her to the ICU as soon as she is out of surgery."

Doctor Hill said good bye and left.

Though neither of them said anything, all three happened to wonder just how random it was that one of the very best trauma surgeons in the country just happened to be here today.

"One thing Cat I need to actually confirm, did you actually slap Jade in the face?" Tori seemed quite amazed by that particular fact.

Cat blushed a bit "Yeah, I did and hard too, I think she needed some sense knocked into her"

"You mean Jade West, Jade, you slapped her?"

Rolling her eyes "Yes"

"My Jade?"

"Yes, Yes, Yes, I slapped Jade West in the face" said cat somewhat frustrated.

"In the face?"

"Yes, why is that so unbelievable?" Cat said somewhat annoyed by this line of questioning.

Tori smiled for the first time all day "Because you're still breathing."

"Cat, you are one brave woman, Thank you. Though I wouldn't advise you to do that again."

At this point two police men showed up. They introduced themselves as Jade's superior officers Captain Carter and Sergeant Nichols. Cat and Beck quickly excused themselves.

"We came to check on you, how are you feeling Miss Vega?" said Captain Carter.

"I'm worried about Jade?"

"We and all the other officers in the city are worried as well." Said Sergeant Nichols.

"She saved me?"

They both nodded in agreement.

"We can go over more formal questions later but we simply wanted to see how you were doing."

"Is she in trouble?" Tori asked pensively

The captain sat down next to Tori's bed, "Officer West, went overboard in her efforts to save you, we do know that, but in our opinion she maintained the finest traditions of the New York City Police Department. Besides she's a hero, her name has been across the news all afternoon. Saving the girl and being gravely wounded in the process."

"Thanks, I didn't want her to get in trouble because of me?" Tori said quietly.

Captain Carter Stood up and patted Tori on the shoulder "Don't worry Miss Vega; we take care of our own. She will be fine."

The two police then departed. Cat and Beck returned a few moments later.

"Jade will keep her badge" said Tori.

"That's good" Said Cat.

"Any word on Jade?" asked Tori.

"She's been in surgery for at least 4 hours so far and the doctor I spoke with said that she will be in surgery probably for several more. He didn't know anything else." Said Beck.

Not knowing was the worse part of all. Tori wanted to be hopeful and was but just not knowing was the very worst part. The thought of losing Jade a second time was to horrible even to think about. The worry constantly plagued her.

"I'm Tired" Said Tori.

"Why don't you get some rest, I called Trina and your folks and let them know your fine. They said they would be here as soon as they could." Beck Said.

"We will check back in a while. Ok sweetie?" Cat Said cheerfully.

A few moments later Tori was alone, it was now about 6:30 PM and it was already Dark.

She was worn out and exhausted both physically and emotionally. Not to mention her side hurt where she was grazed.

Before she went to sleep she just laid there thinking about that bond Jade and her had. The Yin/Yang tattoos they had symbolizing it. There was some bond between them beyond the physical she now believed that. . She tried to push out the thought of Jade not making it through surgery but it kept creeping in. There was no one else for her on earth but Jade.

A specialist trauma surgeon just happens to be here today, I just happen to go to Stuttgart, Jade happens to move to New York. Something is pushing us back together or we are somehow drawn to each other. Knowing that each of us is only half and we are only complete when we are together.

She eventually drifted off to sleep. She dreamed that she was trying to find Jade in a maze, she kept hearing her voice but could never find her.

When she awoke it was just after 10 pm according to the clock on the wall.

As she began to shake off the last vestiges of sleep she became aware of a strange feeling. It was Just a feeling, but it permeated every fiber of her being. Jade would get out of surgery, barely alive, very soon. Then she would go to the intensive care unit.

For some strange reason Tori knew she had to be there with Jade. Not wanted to be with Jade, she knew she had to be with Jade. Like a premonition she knew that if she wasn't with Jade tonight, she wouldn't be there in the morning.

It was like that bond between them or something was calling out to her. Not whispering things like go to Stuttgart in her subconscious, this time it was practically screaming at her.

She knew that if she wasn't there for Jade this night, that during the night, Jades strength would give out, her body would shut down. Her pulse would drop and her heart rate would become erratic and eventually her heart would simply stop.

Like before Jade West would simply disappear during the night. Jade needed her there with her. It was hard to put into words, but she just knew it.

It was then she saw Cat, who was quietly reading in a chair in the corner.

"Cat"

"Oh I didn't know you woke up. How are you feeling sweetie?"

"A bit better but my side still hurts."

"Where's beck?"

"I told him to go to work and that I would watch over you and Jade"

"Any word on Jade?"

"No, she's still in surgery. She's been there just over 8 hours."

About a moment later a Doctor walked in the room.

"Hello Miss Vega, Your still up that's good, I'm Doctor Grant."

"Any news on Jade?" Tori Said expectantly.

"Yes, she just got out of surgery, it was rough but she made it, just barely. They lost her once on the table but brought her back."

Tori started to feel sick but said "Thanks"

"The slugs from her shoulder and leg were bad but the one that hit her chest was a nasty one, It broke up and pieces went everywhere. I will be straight with you; she isn't out of the woods yet. The next few hours will be the hardest for her."

"I understand doctor"

"They are taking her to the ICU now"

Tori paused for a second but then asked. "It's an unusual request, but I need to be with her tonight. She needs me there with her. It sound strange but I just know she needs me there."

The doctor paused for a moment to think. "You know the governor herself called the hospital to see that officer West got what ever she needed to recover. If that is what she needs to recover, that I think we can make an exception. It will take some time for them to set her up in the ICU."

"Thank you Very much Doctor" Tori said with a look of relief on her face.

"We will let you know when she is ready, it shouldn't be more than a hour." the doctor said before he excused himself.

Cat thought for a second and told Tori she needed a soda and said she would be right back.

She quickly caught Dr. Grant down the Corridor

"Dr. You gave in rather easily." said Cat suspiciously.

"Miss?"

"I'm Mrs. Cat Oliver, I'm a friend of both Miss West and Miss Vega, give it to me straight please?"

The doctor took a deep breath and ran his hands through his brown hair. "Your friend barely made it through surgery and her chances of making it through the night aren't too great. There is a good chance that this is the last night Miss Vega will be able to ever spend with her girlfriend. It's the least we could do, that cop is a hero."

**The title of this chapter refers to the Maroon 5 song "Just a feeling". The chapter doesn't have much to do with the song, I just needed a title that I thought fit**


	13. Cupid

**Disclaimer: The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me. **

**Chapter 13 – Cupid**

New York City, Friday November 20th, 2020

No One's POV

As Tori walked into the Intensive care ward she could see that it had 10 rooms down a long wide blue hallway. 5 were on one side and 5 were on the other. In the center of the hallway was a large nurses station that monitored all the vitals of the various patients in intensive care. Each room had a sliding glass patio type door that could be pulled shut.

She stood there for a moment when brown haired man in his 30's walked up to her.

"Hi, I'm John the head nurse on duty tonight, You must be Tori, they said you would be coming down."

"Is Jade here yet?" Tori answered

"Yes your girlfriend arrived a short while ago; we just got her set up. They don't usually allow people to stay very long her but they are making an exception for you. The News is saying she's quite the hero."

"Yes she is. how is she?"

The man bit his lip for a second. "I'll be straight with you Miss Vega, Miss West injuries are quite severe. They had her in the OR for over 8 hours. She isn't out of the woods yet."

It was unwelcome news to Tori but she appreciated the Nurses honesty.

She swallowed the lump in her throat. "What are her chances?"

"It's not too terribly good, but there is a chance she will make it. I am worried about her heart rate and pulse. They are both still somewhat erratic. In many of these cases the first few hours are the most critical. If she makes it through tonight, I would say she will pull through. Due to the fact that she just got out of major surgery she is still heavily sedated however."

"One more thing, how is your wound feeling Miss Vega?"

Tori looked down at her side, it hurts a bit, but I don't mind?"

"If it gives you any trouble or you need anything for the pain, just give me a shout and I'll take care of you"

"Thank you." Said Tori appreciatively

He pointed to a door down the hall, "There is the rest room if you need it and there is coffee and vending machines just around the corner behind us. Your girlfriend is in room 3, we have a chair set up for you. Just be careful not to touch any of the equipment. Don't worry about any alarms, we monitor everything. If there is any change in her condition we will know instantly."

He walked her down the hall to room 3. "There is a curtain just inside the door; you can pull it so you can get some privacy. If you need anything just go to the nurse's station and one of us can help you."

He then walked to the nurse's station leaving Tori at the doorway to room 3. Tori was still a bit tired but her nap earlier refreshed her a bit. Her side did bother her but the pain medicine they gave her before coming down seemed to be working.

She wasn't going to leave Jade, not for one second. Jade needed her tonight and she knew it.

Tori walked in the room and pulled across the entrance the large blue curtain. It was the size of a normal sized hospital room, white tile floor with green walls. In the center of the wall opposite the door was jade's bed.

Tori cautiously walked in and sat down next to the Bed. Jade was lying in the bed, various tubes and IV's snaked from her body to various machines next to the bedside. One of the machines was a medical ventilator which helped Jade breathe. A tube attached to Jade's Mouth ran to the machine.

Jade herself looked very pale, even more than she usually did. Her skin looked almost ashen. It was very hard for Tori to see the woman she loved like this. She was asleep, just lying there motionless.

Tori Glanced at the clock on the wall, it was 12:19AM

The Chair was on the right side of the bed. Tori Walked up and sat in the chair. Her heart started beating faster, a form of nervousness and fear started to overtake her in a rush of emotion Tears started to form in her eyes. "I have to be strong for Jade" thought Tori, "she needs me to be strong."

Tori took Jade's hand, it was cold and didn't react to her touch.

"Jade" she said quietly.

She knew Jade wouldn't answer but he hoped on some level Jade knew she was there.

"It's me Tori, I'm Here, I'm safe. One of the bullets grazed me but you got me out. "

"They said you may not make it, through the night." A tear ran down her face as she said that.

"I lost you once Jade West, I can't loose you again. I never hated you, I love you. The last 7 years have been hell for me, your my other half I can't live without you."

"I'm going to stay here tonight with you; I'm not going to leave. I promise you. I know deep down that you need me here."

Tori found it hard for herself to speak, she was getting very choked up. She paused and took a deep breath.

"I missed you, there wasn't a day that went by that I didn't think about you."

"Cat said you had a tough time of it too. I'm so sorry I wasn't there for you."

Let's face it. We are no good without each other even as much as we fight and bicker"

Tori paused and looked up at the screen showing Jade's vital signs. Though she was not an expert she could see that Jade's heart rate was low and somewhat erratic. Jade was fighting to stay alive, but Tori just knew instinctively that Jade was struggling and having a hard time of it. That is why Jade needed her there; to give her the strength and love she needed to keep fighting.

"Keep fighting baby" Tori said as she squeezed Jade's hand.

For a while she Tori just sat there quietly, just holding Jade's hand. She didn't want to let it go, not for one second. As much as she hated the thought, if Jade only had a few hours left, Tori would hold her hand until the end.

"Don't leave me, Please?" she finally said, her voice choking up again.

"I'm not letting death take you tonight, you're my territory and I'm not letting him. I can be just as possessive as you if not more. He's not taking you."

"I still remember all those plans we made back in high school, Us being together, doing all the things that we wanted to do together, I'm not letting you off the hook West, you owe me one life together."

For a while more she just sat there, never letting go.

Finally she had an idea.

"Jade, it's been a while but I can try and sing for you."

"I haven't been able to sing since that day you left. I just can't. Some doctor said it was a mental block. I couldn't because you were gone, when you went away you took that part with you."

"But your back, and I want to try for you"

Tori smiled a bit, "I'd be happy to take a request"

Jade of course said nothing, the only sound in the room was the respirator that was helping her breathe and the somewhat steady beep of the heart monitor.

Tori bit her lip, "Not even sure what to sing"

She thought for a moment. "I got one, it's an old song, it was one of my grandmother's favorite songs, she used to play it all the time. I think I know most of the words. It's cupid by Sam Cooke."

"Feel free to say that's a stupid old song," Tori said as she mentally prepared to sing.

She started to sing but stopped after a word; she then cleared her throat and began to sing again.

_Cupid pull back your bow And let your arrow go_

_Straight to my lover's heart for me, for me_

_Cupid please hear my cry, and let your arrow fly._

_Straight to my lovers heart for me_

_Now I don't mean to bother you but I'm in distress_

_There's danger of me losin, all my happiness_

_For I love a girl who doesn't know I exist_

_And this you could fix._

_Cupid pull back your bow And let your arrow go_

_Straight to my lover's heart for me, for me_

_Cupid please hear my cry, and let your arrow fly._

_Straight to my lovers heart for me_

_Now Cupid if your arrow make a love storm for me_

_I promise I will lover her until eternity_

_I know between the two of us her heart we can steal_

_Help me if you will._

_Cupid pull back your bow And let your arrow go_

_Straight to my lover's heart for me, for me_

_Cupid please hear my cry, and let your arrow fly._

_Straight to my lovers heart for me_

_Now Cupid don't you hear me_

_Callin' you, I need you_

_Cupid Help me_

_I need you _

_Cupid._

The words came soft, halting at first and out of tune, but as she continued she found her voice getting stronger and she eventually found the right key.

Tori found herself singing for the first time in 7 years. It was a wonderful feeling.

"I'm a bit out of practice. "

"I hoped you liked it Baby." She kept singing, every song she could think of, from Justin Timberlake to Taylor Swift plus some more old ones she thought of. After a while her voice got a bit horse.

After what seemed to be an hour, she had to quit as her voice started to give out. Soon after there was a knock from the door"

"Come in"

John came from around the curtain.

"How are you doing? Miss Vega."

"Just Tori, I'm fine thanks. I hope the singing didn't disturb anyone.'

John walked up to the bed and checked something on the vitals monitor.

"Actually, that was quite nice, You have a great voice. Don't worry about disturbing anyone, we could hear it out in the nurses station, We enjoyed it."

"Thank you, it's been a while since I last sang, I just thought Jade would like it"

John smiled, "I actually think she did"

Tori raised her eyebrow "What?"

"I've been monitoring her vitals since you started to sing, her heart rate has gradually started to stabilize and her pulse has gotten just a bit stronger. Not by much, but it's noticeable.'

Tori's spirits immediately started to rise. "They did?"

"I think she knows you're here, on some level at least. It may sound a bit corny but I think your singing helped her, gave her strength to go on."

Tori thanked John and he excused himself. She felt good that it is possible that she helped Jade. For the first time she felt there was real hope.

She spent the next hour or so just talking with Jade. As if she was awake and there, but just couldn't answer. Updating her on all that had happened in the last 7 years. Never once letting go of Jades hand.

Gradually she got tired and put her head down on the bed next to Jade's hand. It was 3:39 when she last remembered looking at the clock. She soon fell asleep.

She awoke to the smell of fresh coffee. The Clock on the wall read 8:47 AM. Her back hurt a bit from sleeping in such an odd position but she didn't mind. She looked at Jade who was pretty much exactly like she was last night. Of course the most import thing was that Jade was still alive; she had made it through the night.

"We did it baby, I wasn't going to let anyone or anything take you from me this time."

She realized she was still holding Jades hand, though her hand had since fallen asleep. Looking up she saw someone had put some fresh coffee on a table next to the bed. She let go of Jade's and shook her own hand out. It had fallen asleep. She took a nice sip of the coffee and turned her attention to Jade again.

"Good morning love" Tori said to Jade as she kissed her on the cheek.

"Hey babe" said a familiar voice from the door way. Tori turned to see that it was Beck.

"I brought you some coffee Tori. I was just talking to John. He said Jade has done a good job at stabilizing during the night. He said that was a very good sign. He also said you sang to her."

"I did" said Tori with a quiet smile.

Beck held Jade's hand for a moment "Morning Babe, How are you doing this morning." It was difficult for him as well to see Jade in such a condition but he hid his worry and angst and put a happy face on.

Beck turned to Tori, "I know you want to stay but you need to go home and rest and get cleaned up. If you get too tired and sick you won't be able to take care of this lovely lady. I've come to take you home"

"Thanks beck" said Tori with a smile.

Tori took a sip of her coffee and kissed Jade on the cheek. "I have to go for a bit Jade, John and the others will take care of you. Be nice to them, OK. I'll be back later. I love you"

It pained Tori that Jade still was not able to respond.

She held Jade's hand for a few seconds more. It seemed a bit warmer and her skin looked just a little bit less ashen.

It was hard for her to leave Jade, she didn't want to. But she knew she could, that feeling that Jade was slipping away was gone, that instinct deep inside had stopped screaming. She had gotten Jade through the night. She knew if she hadn't been her Jade would have lost her fight and this bed would now be empty.

Tori knew she needed to be strong and healthy for Jade. Because Jade would need lots of care and attention to get fully recovered, this would probably take months.

Just before she left she held and squeezed Jade's hand once more. It was then she felt it, barely perceptible but it was there. For the first time Jade squeezed back.

The squeeze of Jade's hand could be explained away as a random firing of nerve cell somewhere or some kind of reflex, but Tori just smiled because she knew better.

**The song for this chapter is a reference to the Song "Cupid" by Sam Cooke. It's a very old song but very beautiful and simple. It is what Tori sings to Jade. For Tori it has a double meaning, she loves a girl who doesn't know she exists but in this case she is asleep and doesn't consciously know she's there. She was pledging her love to the unconscious Jade hoping she would eventually wake up. If you're unfamiliar with Sam Cooke he was an extremely talented singer/songwriter who sadly died much too young.**

**I do not own the rights to the Sam Cooke Song "Cupid"**


	14. Here comes the sun

**The Show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**The first part of this chapter represents bits of things jades subconscious and semi conscious mind perceived and thought during the first part of her hospital stay. She would not consciously remember them upon waking. These thoughts and perceptions are fragmented as her mind was both drugged up and fragmented. But I thought I would show was going on deep down in her mind. **

**Chapter 14 - Here comes the sun**

**Place ?, Time ?**

Jade's Pov

Falling…

Pulse is erratic…

Huh…

Severe Blood Lo…

What…

Pressure's dropping….

I am…

Were loosing her….

Nothing…..

Critical….

Beep, beep, beep…

Tori's here…

Hand is warm…

Cupid pull back…

Singing…

Won't leave…

That clown is back again…

Is it a clown….

Red hair…

Not sure…

Dead…

Not sure either…

Someone I think is lying next to me…I missed her smell…

Alive…

Who Knows…

Missed you babe…

You can't call me babe anymore….

Why…

I don't know…

Blue, green, red and white lights….

The clown and a doll are putting them somewhere…

Dam I feel loopy….

Everything hurts…

Her hand feels warm holding mine…

Her…

Her…

Her…

Soft…Skin…

Her lips…

Felt that kiss…

Light's above me blinking…

Visiting hours are almost….

How you doing Jade your…

Jade…

Not Karen…

Jade…

You Jade…

Stable….

Christmas music…

Tori…

Friend…

Tori…

Lover…

Tori…

Girlfriend…

Tori was my…

Tori is my…

Everything…

Tori will be…

Forever…

That Doll is watching me…

I'm in bed, that's it am in a bed…

Why can't I move my left arm…

Oooh…Lights too bright…Close eyes…

Blinking red, white, blue and green lights were the first thing I could really remember. They seemed to snake all around the walls of my room. "Yes, I'm in a room, its light outside." Was my first conscious thought.

"Tori Run!" that thought suddenly roared through my head.

I then realized I was listening to an old Christmas song it was Darlene love's "Christmas (Baby please come home)." My mom used to play that song at Christmas, I secretly like it. As my eyes began to focus I realized I was in a room decorated with all kinds of Christmas lights and pictures.

I was in a bed there were tubes and things snaking from my body like something out of HR Giger picture. Some machines were on either side of my bed, one was beeping at a steady pace, and others quietly hummed. I felt weak and could barely move. There was a dull throbbing pain in my left shoulder, chest and right leg. If you want to know how I felt, imagine falling off a tall building hitting the ground and then having the building tip over and fall over on top of you.

As my eyes began to focus I turned my head slightly to the right which actually hurt. I could see someone sitting next to the bed.

It was her soft brown hair that I could make out first, long and beautiful. I next became aware of her scent; I had missed that so much. Her features, those lips, cheekbones and the deepest brown eyes I ever saw.

It was Tori Vega, my heart jumped at the sight of her. She was safe and with me.

She was holding my hand, I didn't even realize it. It was warm and soft and her touch felt magical. I tried to squeeze but her hand but wasn't sure if she even felt it.

She was sitting there reading a magazine and hadn't noticed my waking up.

"Ve-ga" I managed to speak in a whisper. It was hard for me to even speak.

Her face seemed to light up as her attention suddenly turned towards me.

"Jade baby, Oh my god, your awake, don't try and move, your badly hurt"

She leaned in and gave me a very soft kiss on the lips and began to stroke my hair with her free hand.

"Welcome back sweetie, relax you are in a hospital."

"You're very weak so don't try and speak angel" she said with a smile.

"It's the 27th, The day after Thanksgiving day, you have been here a week. I hope you realize I'm missing a killer sale at Macys for you." Said Tori with a Smirk.

I felt guilty for her ordeal; I was the one set that nut job off. I just had to say it. "My fault." I felt like passing out just from saying that.

Tori began to look annoyed for a second and pinched my lips together.

"I said don't speak, your much too weak. Don't try and move your left arm either, your shoulder is pretty messed up."

Not even out of the hospital and she is annoying the crap out of me. How I missed that.

"I'll do the talking; you just lay there and listen. You were shot three times, you spent 8 hours in surgery and nearly bled to death."

I could tell she was getting very emotional, so was I but I could hardly move.

Tears started to flow from her eyes.

"Jade West you scared the crap out of me. Don't scare me like that ever again. I'm very mad at you. I finally find you and you almost die on me. I can't lose you again."

Tori then kissed me on the forehead and brushed away a hair that had fallen across my face.

"You're my hero." said Tori her tears were steadily flowing, they were tears of joy.

She leaned in close to me. I wanted to hug her but I could barely move.

"Cat filled me in about what happened to you." She began to stroke my hair. "My poor baby. I had all of them and you had no one."

Even though I could barely move and was physically half dead, just being with Tori, my Tori made me happier than I have been in years. I just wanted to hold her. I wanted to kiss her and a whole lot of other things. I never wanted to be away from her again. Tell her how much I missed her.

All I was able to say was "Love You" which was barely more than a whisper.

Tori leaned in right by my ear and squeezed my hand "I love you Jade West. I lost you once and I almost lost you a second time, I am never ever going to let you out of my sight again, got that. You are stuck with me for good. You are my soul mate and I plan to spend the rest of my life making you happy."

Tremendous warmth seemed to wash over me, for a few seconds all of the pain faded away. I could feel my heart grow about 4 sizes. Tori Vega was part of me and I hadn't been whole without her. I wanted to say that but all I could do was smile.

I whispered "Yin" referring to Yin/Yang I wanted Tori to know that I wasn't complete without her. I was too weak to say anything else. She smiled and said "Yang" understanding what I meant.

"Oooh, Your going to get a medal from the police department and dinner with the Mayor, I'm your plus one by the way. Not only did you save me but you uncovered a decent sized meth lab in the process. You're in all the papers. Your captain said you upheld the finest traditions of the New York Police Department. So you will get to keep your badge."

That was actually bullshit, they just probably didn't want to ruin some very good publicity so they will ignore my little transgression and let me be the hero. I'll take it.

Tori again smiled, "they said that wacko, plead guilty to a bunch of charges and he will be going away for at least 25 years. Apparently all they had to do was threaten to let you do the interrogation and he started to cry. You must put the fear of god into him."

I smiled and whispered "Fear of me." Prison would be a country club compared to what I was going to do to him if he so much as looked at Tori, and he knew it. I made dam sure of that.

A machine next to the bed made a chirping sound and started to pump more painkillers into my shattered body. For now my body didn't matter, for the first time in seven years, I had Tori with me and my soul felt whole. That was all I cared about.

The drugs were starting to take effect, soon I would be asleep.

I just squeezed Tori's hand, closed my eyes and drifted back into sleep.

**I'm using a Beatle reference again, this time it's the song "Here comes the sun" It's a song that says that everything is going to be ok. Jade has woken up and for the first time they both know everything is going to be ok.**

**Another 2 chapter day, just some editing to do on the final chapters. Nearing the end, not quite there yet.**


	15. I'm Only Me When I'm With You

**Disclaimer: The show victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Chapter 15 – I'm only me when I'm with you**

**New York City, Tuesday, December 1st, 2020**

**No Ones POV**

Jade woke again, she could see it was nighttime. Everything still hurt.

She had small periods of wakefulness here and there but mostly she either slept or was too loopy from the drugs to really remember anything.

"How you doing babe?" a voice she found familiar said to her.

"How are you feeling today Miss West" a second voice she didn't recognize said.

Her eyes focused and she realized Beck was sitting next to the bed and a white coated middle aged doctor was taking her pulse.

"Good afternoon, Miss West" The doctor said kindly. "I'm Dr Parkhurst, one of the doctors who attended to your injuries. I'll be straight, you're very lucky to be alive."

"He's right babe, they actually lost you for a few seconds" beck added.

"Give it to me straight Doc" Jade said weakly.

"Let me go into detail Miss West, The first bullet tore into your right leg and broke apart but it wasn't too bad. You will probably have a limp for a time until your leg heals and strengthens."

The Doctor paused

"The second bullet was the one that almost got you, as it went it broke a rib and split into a couple pieces. One piece tore through your right lung and out your back the others scattered about. Within seconds blood started to fill your lungs.

"The third bullet hit your shoulder and broke up, did some muscle damage. You lucked out a chunk of it lodged up near your left subclavian artery. You were already bleeding like a stuck pig as they say but if that had been hit, you probably would have bled to death in the ambulance.

Normally Jade would be fascinated and probably excited hearing about such vast injuries to a person. But in this case it was her injuries so that took most of the fun out of it. Besides it hurt like hell.

"We had you in surgery for over 8 hours, we lost you or about 26 seconds but we were able to revive you."

Beck noticed that for some strange reason that almost seem to excite Jade. This meant she was well on her way to returning to her normal self.

"I was dead?" There was almost a look a excitement in her eyes as she said it.

"Your pulse dropped and your heart stopped. You were clinically dead for 26 seconds. But my team got you going again. You are progressing nicely in your recovery. You will need physical therapy to regain full use of your leg and shoulder but you should fully recover in time."

Jade just smiled and thanked the doctor who finished checking Jade and left.

Beck paused for a few moments "Good to have you back, we were all very worried"

"Thanks" she said. Her voice was still a bit weak but sounded better.

"Hey before I forget" Jade Continued, "I can't thank you guys enough for taking care of Tori for me. That means a lot to me."

Beck smiled "No worries, Jade. That's what friends are for. I'm just sorry we couldn't help you."

Jade lifted her right hand to brush a strand of hair that had fallen across her face when she noticed all her fingernails were painted pink with Hello Kitty Designs on them.

Jade's eyes seemed to bug out as she looked over all her fingernails. She then made a growling sound as her face darkened. "Beck, May I ask what's this?"

Beck just laughed "Your toenails do too; Cat got bored the other day and did your nails. In her defense you did actually agree to the procedure and you said it was rather pretty when she finished. Though I am fairly certain that was because you had just been pumped full of painkillers. Tori did say they were very cute also."

Jade clenched her teeth together, "Remind me to have a discussion with Cat about touching other peoples finger and toe nails."

"Ok" beck said with a smile.

"What day is it?"

"It's December 1st, I hope you like the decorations, Cat, Robbie and Rex decided to make your room more festive"

"I hate festive" jade snapped. "Where's Tori?"

"Should be here soon she said she had shopping and stuff to do. You do know that girl is insanely in love with you. The first night in intensive care, they weren't sure you were going to make it. Tori sat with you that whole night and I don't think she let go of your hand once the entire time. She wouldn't leave you. She even sang to you, she hasn't been able to do that in years."

Jade appeared to get a bit choked up. "I don't deserve her." Said Jade softly, a tear running from her left eye.

"Don't say that babe, we can all see the old Tori returning since she's found you. You two need each other. Tori's has been here pretty much every waking minute here since by your side. They let her stay with you outside of visiting hours, you being the big hero and all. It's in all the papers. She has it that someone is with you all the time when she is not there, either me, Robbie, Andre or cat or Trina."

"She's having me babysat?" Jade said narrowing her eyes.

"She's been dong all kinds of stuff, feeding your fish at your apartment, taking care of your bills and the like. She as just been all over"

A few moments later Tori came in the door. She seemed cheerful and was carrying a backpack and a Macy's shopping bag.

"Hi Tori" Beck said.

"Hi beck"

She came into the room and kissed Jade on the forehead "Hi angel, how are you feeling today"

"Like some asshole put a bunch of fucking holes in me" she said tersely.

"This may make you feel better" Said Tori as she held up the Macy's bag.

"Unless that bag is full of Oxycontin, I'm not sure how it would."

Tori pulled out a very sexy piece of lingerie and held it up to her chest. "Got this and a whole bunch of others at macy's this afternoon. Let's say it's a preview of coming attractions."

"I certainly want to see that movie" Jade said with a smile.

Tori then turned around to Beck with a kind of evil grin. "What do you think?"

Beck immediately started to turn red with embarrassment, "Uh.. I will decline to answer that question on the grounds that may be hazardous to my health to do so."

Tori Laughed.

Jade Smirked "Beck that was the correct response."

"I'll take my leave and leave you two lovebirds alone, See you gals later." Beck said as he grabbed his coat and left the room.

"See you later beck." Both Tori and Jade said in unison.

Tori turned her attention to Jade. "I just wanted to give you an incentive to heal and get your strength back because the second you are."

Tori looked up to the ceiling and paused as if to think for a second

"I'm not going to let you out of that bedroom for a week. You and I have a lot of sex to catch up on. I plan to fuck you senseless, repeatedly."

"Don't make promises you can't keep, Vega." Said Jade with a bigger smirk than before.

Tori leaned in and whispered in Jade's ear. "I've been working out and believe me I intend to keep that promise."

Jade said nothing but her smirk suddenly grew into a rather evil looking smile. Though in Jade's mind she was working out what SHE was going to with the beautiful Latinas body once she was able. "That's assuming I don't get to you first."

Jade then raised her hands, "Did you see what cat did to me? She defaced my nails. You can't be a Goth with hello kitty nails" Jade complained with a pout on her face.

Tori laughed, "But you look so cute."

Jade frowned, "I'm Jade Freaking West, I'm supposed to be sexy and dangerous. I'm not supposed to be cute."

Tori leaned in towards her girl friend.

"You are sexy" and then kissed jade briefly

"You are most certainly dangerous" and then she kissed jade briefly again.

"But, like it or not I still think your cute." then she kissed Jade a third time.

Jade just sat there pouting.

"Ok, as my girlfriend, I officially give you permission to find me cute. But only in private. Though, if you annoy me too much with cute remarks, that permission will be revoked."

Tori smiled and then took the backpack and placed it on the table near the bed. "I have something to do while you're here."

Tori opened the backpack and pulled out some notebooks. I found these in your apartment. They appeared to be some of the screenplays you had been working on in the past. It looks like you didn't finish some of them so since you are laid up you have ample time to work on them. I grabbed this little MP3 player. I figured you would want those while I was sorting though your stuff."

Tori piled a years worth of Elle & Vogue Magazines on the table next to Jades bed. "I got these for you. Probably more fun than the coloring books and crayons Cat left for you the other day"

"What am I going to do with those, my Karen persona liked those, I don't" Said Jade with a confused look on her face.

Tori took a new pair of scissors from the backpack and put them on top of the stack. "My Jadelyn needs something to cut apart."

Jade just smiled.

Jade thought for a second "Vega why were you going through my stuff?"

"Trying to figure out what will fit?"

Jade eyed Tori Suspiciously. "Fit?"

Tori smiled and Took Jade's hand. "Fit in my apartment, you're moving in with me next week. I got the movers all set. The rest I will put in storage for the time being. So when you get out of here in a few weeks, you will go home to OUR apartment. I figure we can find a bigger place eventually but for now that will do. I'm sorry but from now on I can't have you sleeping anywhere else but next to me. I'm a very possessive girl you know."

Jade narrowed her eyes and just starred at Tori for several seconds without saying anything.

Jade's face darkened "Vega." She said with an annoyed sounding voice.

"Jade, you're so cute when you pretend to be annoyed. You're happier than a clam, so just say you love me and admit it."

Jade frowned because she knew she had been busted. She was looking forward to living with Tori than more than Tori was.

"Ok Vega, You win, I love you and I am happier than a clam, are you happy now?" said Jade as her frown turned into a smile.

"Very much Jade, I love you too" Said Tori rather smugly.

**I had this one finished so it's a triple chapter day today.**

**I was trying to think of a song to use as this chapter title. The song "I'm only me when I'm with you" by Taylor Swift seemed to fit pretty Well. Jade is getting better and is slowly returning to her old self and Tori as well now that their back together again. **

**One of my favorite parts of the story is in this chapter. The Part when Jade discovers that Cat has painted Hello Kitty designs on all her nails while she was jacked up on pain killers. It would be most amusing to see the expression on Jade's face when she discovered that. **


	16. Don't Stop

**The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me.**

**Chapter 16 – Don't Stop**

**New York City, Tuesday January 12****th**** 2021**

**Tori's pov**

It's January 12th and Jade is coming home today. To OUR apartment the word OUR is the most important thing to me. I am so happy I could burst. She had been in the hospital almost 2 months. I think the hospital staff is more relieved to have Jade home than Jade. As she got better she started reverting to her normal bitchy self. She hates being in the hospital. I think she hates not sleeping next to me even more.

She is still weak and not fully healed. She has trouble moving her left arm and walks with a limp. Jade will need months of physical therapy to fully recover. I gave her a present the other day. Cat was in an antique shop the other day and found an antique cane with a small silver skull on the top. I bought it and gave it to her so she could walk better. I thought she was going to cry she thought it was so beautiful. I have an even better one has a homecoming gift.

It was about 4:30 in the afternoon by the time she was ready to go. The doctors wanted to make a final check of her injuries. They put her into a wheelchair and took her down to the car. She didn't seem to think she needed one.

"I can walk just fine!" she snapped to the orderly pushing her wheelchair

I said to the orderly, "Ignore her and just keep pushing, she's just been in a bad mood for the last 25 years."

Jade just glared at me which just caused me to laugh.

I patted Jade on her good shoulder "Sorry, but you're stuck with me baby."

Jade just shook her head.

We got downstairs where Beck and Cat were waiting with the car. She was acting crabby but I could see the relief in her eyes as we got to the waiting car. Cat and Beck both gave her a hug and helped her into the car.

In the car she just held my hand and cuddled up to me without saying a word. I could tell she was tired. She tires easily nowadays, the doctor said with physical therapy and exercise she will regain her strength.

In a few moments we were working our way home through rush hour traffic.

We all could sense that she wasn't in the mood to talk so Beck turned on the radio and we just listened to music on the way home.

We were going to have an official coming home party but decided the first night would not be a good idea. I thought she needed a bit of time to adjust and decompress as they say. We had one planned for next week.

Cat and beck dropped us off at our place.

"Do you need us to help you guys get upstairs" Beck asked.

"No, were good beck" I said.

"Thanks, Guys" said Jade with a smile on her face.

We finally got up to our apartment; it was so strange thinking it now our apartment. All those years ago we made all kinds of plans. Rooming together at college, all kinds of plans but they all came apart almost 8 years ago.

"Should I carry you across the threshold?" I said with a smile as I unlocked the door.

Jade just smirked, "Just open the door, you goofball."

We entered the apartment and closed the door behind us.

"I put out a lot of your stuff, here and there. You can rearrange it to your liking as you see fit" I said as I sat down on the couch.

She walked in and just looked around. I know she had been here before when she was looking for me. But I just sat there and let her get comfortable.

I don't know what happened but as I sat there watching her, I was suddenly overcome with emotion. It had finally set in, that after nearly 8 years, I had Jade back and we were together in our own place. I had dreamed of this day for years.

I suddenly burst out crying, I wasn't sure if they were tears of joy or what, but I was just overcome.

She had wandered over to the kitchen when I suddenly started crying. She hobbled over, sat down next to me and put her arm around me. "What's wrong Tori?"

"Nothing Jade, I just thought this day would never come. I hoped and dreamed I would have you back for years, now you're here with me in our place." I said through the tears.

I then put my hands on her cheeks. "I have you back, that means so much to me, I love you so much Jade."

I had started to ramble but I meant every word.

Jade paused for a moment and began to tear up herself.

"Contrary to popular opinion Vega, I am in a spectacular mood today. I remember being in my room in Minnesota. It was a small room with powder blue walls. I wouldn't unpack; I just sat there night after night, thinking about you, wanting to be with you. Just staring at those stupid walls. I hate powder blue, I hated it before, I hate it even more now."

Tori dropped her hands and Jade took them in hers. "Tori, I've spent the last bunch of years messed up, because I didn't have you. I have you now, here with me. That means the whole world to me because you are my whole world. I love you and I don't ever want to be away from you again, ever. Probably next to you, I'm the happiest girl in the world."

Jade pulled me in for a hug and seemed to squeeze me extra tight. She then wrapped her arms around my waist and pulled me into a kiss.

It was soft and tender at first, with a slow succession of short little kisses, each just a bit longer than the last one.

I knew she wasn't up to much more than this today, but I simply savored every second.

Finally she just locked her lips with mine, pulling me in. Her tongue ran across my lower teeth wanting admission which I gladly granted. Our tongue's caressed each other as we kissed. It could only be described as an amazing kiss. Every square inch of me felt like it was on fire.

After a few moments Jade broke off the kiss and just leaned her forehead against mine and smiled. "You just wait until I get my strength back, Vega. But in the meantime I'm hungry for anything else other than hospital food."

"How about we order out for Chinese food Jade?"

"Sure she replied"

I went and grabbed the menu from the place I order at and handed it to her.

Jade just smiled again. "Another strange coincidence, I order from this same place."

"I know, when I went to get your stuff moved, I found out that we order from the same Chinese restaurant and pizza place and for an even stranger reason, have the exact same dentist."

I left Jade to decide what she wanted and went to get the homecoming gift I had for her.

"Before we order I have a present for you. A homecoming/thanks for being my girlfriend again/thanks for saving my life gift." I then handed her a small rectangular box about the size of a box of chocolates.

She eyed it suspiciously. "If this is a box of chocolates, I'm going to throw it at you." Said jade with a smirk.

"Just open it" I said expectantly.

She unwrapped the red wrapping paper and opened the box.

Inside was her favorite pair of scissors, but now it had a dull red stain on the blades.

"I called your captain to see if I could get your scissors back, I even asked him to not wipe the blood from that dead guy off it. As morbid as it was, I thought you would like that."

Jade's face lit up like a kid on Christmas Day. "Oh my god it's beautiful Tori, I do love it, thank you ever so much."

She then gave me a big hug; I could even see a tear in her eye as she admired her now bloodstained favorite pair of scissors.

I can honestly say that not too many women would really appreciate getting a bloodstained pair of scissors as a gift. But that's what makes Jade so special.

"I'm going to retire you and put you back in your place of honor" Said Jade to her scissors.

She then went to the curio cabinet and placed the bloodstained pair of scissors on a shelf next to the ceramic Kitten playing with a ball of yarn.

I just shook my head. "Your very weird Jade West, it just makes me love you even more."

"I love you too" said Jade with a smile.

"How about we just relax with some movies when the Chinese food gets here?"

Jade narrowed her eyes "are you going to make me watch "The Notebook" again?"

Jade hated that movie with a passion but years ago she watched it with me without a single complaint.

"No silly, this is your 1st night at home so I want you to feel comfortable, I got two horror movies, one old and one new."

"What may I ask are they?" Said Jade as she sat down again.

"The new one is "The Scissoring Part 7 – Unhappy Holiday's, that just came out on video, and the old one I hadn't seen but it looked kind of cool. It's 1979's Phantasm."

Jade grinned. "Oooh, my Girl's got some good taste. Phantasm is awesome; you can't go wrong with a movie that has flying balls with blades on them. Are you sure you're up to 2 horror films."

"Just as long as my girlfriend holds my hand"

We got the food and cuddled on the couch while we watched the two horror films. I found the older one, less gory but ultimately more scary. Of course Jade held my hand whenever I got scared. It was wonderful.

After the movies I could see Jade could hardly stay awake, she had tired out from the day so we got ready for bed.

I had gone into the bathroom to wash before bed and when I came into the bedroom I found her there without her bra or shirt, looking at her scars in the mirror. She had one long one up her chest and one on her shoulder, plus you could see where the bullets hit. On her shoulder and on the lower part of her right breast. There was also a scar from an exit wound in her back.

I could see she had a look of worry on her face.

I went up behind her and wrapped my arms around her. "What's wrong, baby?"

"Do these bother you?" she said quietly as she traced her fingers down a scar.

"No, they don't." I answered. This was the truth.

I could tell that she was worried about how I felt about the scars. Normally Jade is tough and doesn't care what people think. But, Jade is human after all and does have her insecurities. I can't blame her for that.

"But you can see them, Other people might see them."

My face took a serious tone as I turned her around so she was facing me.

"Ok Jade West, I'm shutting this pity party down right now. Those scars are part of you and I love you. Those scars also remind me how much you were willing to give up for me. That you truly do love me. We all have scars Jade, some on the inside and some on the outside. I am telling you here right now, that I will love you to the day I die, scars or not. You're the most beautiful women in the world to me."

She smiled and quietly said "I love you"

I gave her a little kiss then said. "Jade you look exhausted, get into bed and I will be along as soon as I finish washing up, we can cuddle for a bit."

Jade got into bed and I spent a few more minutes in the bathroom washing off my makeup.

I came back into the bedroom and there she was in bed, already fast asleep. She must have fallen asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow.

I turned off the lights, leaving the only light being what ever came in from the city outside. I walked around the bed to my side and slipped under the covers with Jade. I didn't go to sleep though; I just laid there watching her. For just over an hour I did.

Just watching her. Listening to her Breathe, Smelling her hair, feeling her skin against mine, feeling the heat from her body. She stirs occasionally. Mostly I just watched her face. Though her eyes are closed in sleep, I can see an odd expression of contentment in her face.

The whole thing is intoxicating, one would think that I would too sleep peacefully and soon I will. But, I just want to enjoy this moment, our first night together almost 8 years.

Each of us suffered as a result of loosing the other. I lost part of me, the part that wanted to sing, to live. I just stumbled though the last few years, my friends helped me and I can't thank them enough.

Jade lost herself completely, becoming strange copy of me. I can't blame her for not calling me. She didn't know who she was anymore. I just wish she hadn't thought I hated her; I never hated her for a second.

When I saw her at the theatre last November the thing that upset me the most was not the fact that she took off right after the show. That was very upsetting, don't get me wrong. It was the fact that the Jade I had loved so much, the Pale skinned, raven haired, scissor obsessed Goth Girl had disappeared.

She and I got Yin/Yang symbol tattoo's in school. Jade's on her left ankle and mine on my right ankle. That means more now to us than it did then. Each of us is half of the whole, and neither of us was whole without the other. I do think Jade and I are connected in way's neither of us totally understands. She agrees with me on that point. Separated we both went crazy in our own way. But in the end we managed to find each other again with a bit of help from the universe and a slap from Cat. Setting things back on their proper course.

I'm getting tired and soon I will wrap my arms around her body and join her in sleep. For the first time in over 7 year's Jade West is where I want and need her to be, right next to me. I can tell from the expression on her sleeping face, she feels exactly the same about me.

At least as far as Jade and I are concerned all is right with the universe…

The End.

**The title of this chapter "Don't Stop" is a reference to the Fleetwood Mac Song of the same name. It is a song about looking forward to tomorrow and all it brings. As Jade and Tori are looking forward to all their tomorrow's together. **

**The move "The Scissoring Part 7 – Unhappy Holidays" is obviously a fictitious movie. I figured by 2020 the scissoring would have inspired several sequels. The other movie "Phantasm" is from 1979 and is a real movie. It's old but actually a pretty good movie in my opinion. In the movie Two brother's and a friend discover very strange things happening at a local funeral home.**

**I could see Jade getting excited by getting a bloodstained pair of scissors so I included it.**


	17. Epilogue

**Disclaimer, The show Victorious, its characters and other associated copyrights are property of someone else and not me. **

– **Epilogue – **

**New York City, Friday July 9th, 2021**

**Jade's Pov. **

"Jade, You're going to be late for your audition" Tori yelled from the bathroom at me.

"No I won't, Ill be out of here in a minute" I snapped back.

"Are you nervous, it's your first in 8 years?"

I grabbed my bag with the information for my audition and checked myself in the mirror.

"I don't care I just want to get back into the game, See you honey, love you" I called out as I started out the door.

I could hear Tori's voice as I closed the door to our apartment "Love you too Jade"

As I started off to my first audition in 8 years I couldn't help but feel good. Currently I am on administrative desk duty. Tori doesn't want me walking the streets as a cop. Her mom is a cop's wife and she knows how stressful it is.

I have a bunch of screen plays finished. Once Tori and I got back together, I started writing and didn't stop. One script which is about a goody goody girl that falls for a mean bitchy Goth chick has gotten some interest from a producer friend of Becks.. Tori likes to describe it as the story about the Bitchy Goth chick that falls for the goody goody girl. Strangely enough, they end up happy together, go figure.

I made it to the subway and sat down letting my mind drift for a few minutes while on the train.

If my acting and screen writing take off I can quit the police department for good. It's an ok job but not quite me. Tori would be very happy about that, and I like making her happy.

Tonight it's Friday night and I am going to ask Tori Vega to marry me. We have been apart too long, I want to be her wife more than anything. I have a whole romantic evening planned, Nice dinner, carriage ride, flowers, everything. She will practically melt with happiness. Then I will get down on my knees and ask her to marry me. I would rather ask her in a haunted house or a dungeon but that's just me.

I know she found the ring, if Tori gets anymore giddy about it she's going to burst. I think she actually likes knowing I'm going to propose. She doesn't know about our plans tonight. She thinks we are going out to dinner with Cat and Beck but I lied. Cat is due very soon. They are having a girl and her name will be Jadelyn Victoria Oliver in honor of Tori and I. I happen to like that name very much.

I did point out to Beck that you will be naming your daughter after your ex girlfriend. I assured him most women would not like that. Beck pointed out that Cat is not most women. I agreed with him completely.

I got off the subway and made my way to where the auditions were taking place. Ironically I am reading for a part in a TV episode, as a cop no less. I've been practicing with Tori for the last few weeks getting back into acting. Though I was acting the entire time I was Karen. I am quite nervous; the butterflies are bouncing all over the inside of my stomach. .

After much waiting in line I finally make it into the room where the Director and two others are sitting. They look a bit board. I walk up to the table and mentally prepare myself for my first audition in 8 years. It's only a small part but you have to start somewhere.

"My name is Jade West, and I will be reading for the part of Detective Stewart. Just let me know when I can begin."

**Tori's Pov**

If Jade doesn't ask me to marry her by Saturday I will pin that raven haired, pale skinned Goth girl down to the ground and kiss her until she does. I found the ring two days ago, it's beautiful.

She has an audition today. I have rehearsals for a big Broadway musical I'm in. I landed a major part in it. I have two solo numbers and Jade is looking forward to seeing me on stage again. We are going out to dinner with Cat and Beck tonight. Cat can't wait for her baby to come.

We got a bigger place and moved in a few months ago. Things are going well, it took a little bit for the two of us to get fully back in sync but we are happy as clams together. I like making her happy. We were even happier when Jade got her strength back and we have been making up for 8 years of missed sex ever since.

I asked Jade if she was worried about they guy her father testified against, her being Jade West again. She said she didn't care. But, she did look him up in the police database. He died of a heart attack in prison 4 years ago and his company went totally bankrupt. No danger there.

Jade is almost totally healed, now. She can now tell when it will rain before it does. Her shoulder will ache. She will always be my angel who came to my rescue in more ways than one. In the end we rescued each other.

All is still pretty right with the Universe…

**Jade's Pov**

I think I got the part, Tori will be happy. They seemed to really like my audition. They said I brought a sense of realism to the role. They hinted that the role itself could be a reoccurring one if the actor is well received. I just need to make a few calls to confirm all my arrangements are ready for tonight. A night so disgustingly utterly romantic Tori will be happy for a month which makes me happy too. I just want to see the look in her eyes when I ask her to marry me. I'll try not to cry when she says yes though I probably will.

I do have a confession to make. When I hid the ring a few days ago, I didn't hide it very well and I did that on purpose. I put it in a place where it would be hidden but she would almost certainly find it.

Knowing that I was going to ask her to marry me would drive her, a little crazy. That and it builds up the excitement a bit.

I know what you're thinking.

Jade that's mean, don't you love Tori?

Mean would be not giving her the ring at all and that ring will be on her finger tonight.

Of course I love Tori Vega, she is the most sexy, beautiful, wonderful woman I know and I don't want to be with anyone else ever. I love her with all my heart and want to spend the rest of my life making her deliriously happy. I even want to give her a baby, I'm that nuts about her. I am literally not complete without that Latina.

I'll even watch the notebook with her. I hate "The Notebook" It would be much better if the gal didn't remember, now would be a nice depressing ending.

So why do I want to make Tori a little crazy when I'm insanely in love with her?

Because I'm Jade West, that's why…..

**Ok, Jade is having a bit of fun with Tori by not hiding the ring very well. I debated leaving that part in or not. In the end I decided to let Jade have her bit of fun and left that part in. It was also to symbolize that she is not 100% back to her old self. I hope you all thought it wasn't too mean. I guessed that it was something that Jade might do. **

**I would like to thank everyone who reviewed my Story. I am glad you enjoyed it. I tried to make something a little different. Focusing on not the physical bonds between Jade and Tori but the ones that transcend that. How they literally not complete without each other and how they found each other again. **


End file.
